CALS KNOWLEDGE BASES FOR ASSURANCE TECHNOLOGIES.

The US Dept. of Defense (DOD) has recently begun movement toward a computer-aided logistics support (CALS) program. CALS would allow for access, by various means, of relevant information to specific users or disciplines, and for the orderly communication of knowledge about the system as well as providing a means to access a single consolidated knowledge base by multiple support systems. In order to accomplish this, one must build central knowledge repositories. Therefore, a need exists for methods and standards to aid in the creation of artificially intelligent knowledge bases from CALS databases. Research is reported, the results of which show promise for aiding the assurance engineer in building and maintaining CALS knowledge bases. Specific implications for automated assurance technologies of future CALS systems are outlined.