MEMEX, AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR VESSEL ENERGY MANAGEMENT

This report describes the development of a knowledge-based system, MEMEX, that reasons about problems related to energy management as they apply to the maintenance of medium speed marine diesel plants. The prototype demonstrator that was developed consists of three major components: a knowledge base of rules, an inferencing system, and a natural language interface. The natural language interface is implemented employing a frame type architecture. Inputs by the user are simultaneously parsed for syntactic and semantic relationships. The conceptual dependencies processed are then used to access conceptual relationships embedded in the rules to initiate a consultation with the user. The intent is that the full MEMEX system would subsequently be installed aboard ships to assist engineers in maintaining high diesel engine plant operating efficiency. The report contains a User's Manual to aid in the operation of MEMEX, and a detailed description of issues relating to MEMEX development, including selection of an application and selection of specific problems for the development of the knowledge base of rules. MEMEX runs in a FRANZ LISP environment under the UNIX operating system on a VAX 11/780 computer.