ARTIFIFICAL INTELLIGENCE APPLIED TO AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSED EFFORT IS TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF APPLYING EXPERT SYSTEMS AND FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS TECHNOLOGIES TO THE PROBLEMS OF AIR BATTLE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AND MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING AND MANAGEMENT FOR THE PURPOSE OF MEETING SPECIFIC BATTLE READINESS GOALS. AS AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS INCREASE IN COMPLEXITY, BATTLE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AND MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT ARE TASKS THAT WOULD BE PERFORMED MORE EFFECTIVELY THROUGH THE USE OF KNOWLEDGE BASED DECISION AIDS AND APPROPRIATE ANALYTICAL TOOLS. ONE ASPECT OF THIS PHASE I EFFORT IS INTENDED TO DEMONSTRATE THAT EXPERT SYSTEMS INTEGRATED WITH FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS TOOLS CAN GREATLY ENHANCE THE ACCURACY WITH WHICH THE TASK OF BATTLE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT CAN BE PERFORMED ON A GIVEN AIRCRAFT. THE OTHER ASPECT OF THIS EFFORT IS TO DEMONSTRATE THAT AN OVERALL MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE CAN BE GENERATED BY EXPERT SYSTEM DECISION AIDS THAT HAVE AS INPUTS THE OUTPUTS OF THE BATTLE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT EXPERT SYSTEMS AS WELL AS THE OVERALL REQUIRED BATTLE READINESS GOAL. THE FINAL RESULTS OF THIS PHASE I EFFORT WILL BE A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT SOFTWARE DEMONSTRATION AS WELL AS A REPORT ADDRESSING THE SCOPE, DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES, AND BENEFITS OF THE OVERALL SYSTEM.