EE 490 Special Topics: Expert Systems and Applications

1996-97 Catalog Data: 3 credits

Special Topic.

Textbooks:

Expert Systems - Principles and Programming,J. Giarratano and G. Riley, PWS Publishing Company, Boston, First Ed., 1992

Reference:

None.

Coordinator:

Nadipuram R. Prasad, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Goals:

This course is designed to educate students about expert systems theory and programming. The theory also explains how expert systems relate to other programming languages. Students successfully completing this course should have a sound understanding of theoretical topics including probabilistic inference, Certainty Factors, Dempster-Shafer theory, and Fuzzy logic. They should also have developed a clear understanding of how to use CLIPS, an expert systems software.

Prerequisites by topic:

While a preliminary course in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is preferred, the topics covered in the text provide a self-contained introduction to AI topics that are appropriate for a thorough understanding of and the development of expert systems.

Topics:

1. Introduction to Expert Systems: General Concepts, Characteristics, Elements of Expert Systems, Production Systems, Procedural and Nonprocedural Paradigms, and current technology (3 Classes)
2. Introduction to CLIPS and usage, Pattern matching concepts, Design of Expert Systems (7 Classes)
3. Knowledge representation and Methods of Inferencing (8 Classes)
4. Reasoning under uncertainty, Classical Probability theory, Combination of evidence (6 Classes)
5. Inexact reasoning, Dempster-Shafer Theory, and Fuzzy Logic (8 Classes)

Computer Usage:

The textbook provides an expert system software called CLIPS. Students are given two projects during the semester. Each project is approximately 6 weeks in duration. A number of departmental PCs are available for student use.

ABET Category Content:

Engineering Science: 1 credit or 33%

Engineering Design: 2 credits or 67%

Prepared by:

Nadipuram R. Prasad

Date: February 14, 1994