Blackboard Architecture

Ahsrrcict-Th is paper proposes I IP(I ntel I igent Internet Protocol) which effectively addresses the issues involved in wireless communication at Network Layer such a s support for mobility, frequent loss of connection due to fading, handoffs and security. We have chosen to use Intelligent Agent technology for our architecture of 1IP because it provides desirable properties such as Speed-up and Efficiency, Robustness and Reliability, Scalability and Flexibility, Development and Re-usability. We make use of .four Intelligent Agents namely Principal Agent(PA), Agent for Address Resolution and Mobility Support(AARMS), Agent for Error Handling and Recovcry(AEHR), Agent for Network Security(ANS) and design each Agent bused on BDI(Belief-Desire-Intention) Architecture. A variant of Blackboard architecture is used for inter-agent communication. Special carc has been taken to make proposed IP compatible with existing Networks. The proposed work has been simulated and verified for its operational effectiveness.

This article presents an architecture of a model-based and knowledge-based system for real-time supervisory control of chemical process systems. This architecture incorporates the following key features: (1) a temporal reasoning strategy based on time-stamped data arriving from the process; (2) the use of an online process model to assist in the decision-making process; (3) a blackboard system for the communication between various knowledge sources; (4) a meta-level decision maker to coordinate the action of these knowledge sources in an orderly and priority-driven fashion, and (5) the concept of continued operational plan refinement to meet the overall goals of the process operation in the presence of continuously changing external environmental stimuli. The proposed architecture has been implemented using an object-oriented programming environment offered through extensions to the C language. Some results on application to the control of an autoclave curing process are given in this paper. The main contribution of this paper is a layout of the system architecture and a demonstration of the advantages resulting from the integration of traditional knowledge-based control implemented using expert operators with model-based control that utilize a simulation model of the process.

In this work we discuss the development of a web application in the domain of movie chains using a Blackboard architecture, which is a well-established style for solving the problem of control, communication and collaboration in a system; it has traditionally been accepted as adequate for heuristic problem solving though not generally used for web applications. We present and discuss how the Blackboard architecture is used as the style for a graduate course project in Software Engineering. Issues about the implementation of the architecture are described and an assessment using some software metrics is presented.

In a competitive environment, selecting and effectively using reliable information technologies, accurate methodologies and the right information systems, led to a search for an audit process. The information system audit process is therefore viewed as a detailed field program of many steps related to two basic decisions:

The paper presents a software re-engineering approach that is being used by a consortium of eleven academic institutions facilitated by a software engineering group to re-engineer previously developed natural language processing modules in laboratory environment, for developing eighteen machine translation (MT) systems covering nine pairs of Indic languages. This approach gives field deployable and maintainable MT systems (and modules) that can be reused as customizable components. The paper discusses its symbiotic approach of re-engineering modules, and also the experiences of developing MT systems in consortium mode. Following this approach, already seven MT systems have been developed and deployed on the web.

AI and DAI based planning techniques, suitable for automated manufacturing systems are surveyed and compared. The relation of learning to planning is described and it is explained how learning may be used to improve planning. Several examples are presented. A complete reference list is provided.

Mobile agent is a promising paradigm in distributed computing. We use a multiagent system with mobile agents to provide a ubiqui-tous computing environment with regards to file synchronization across machines. In this paper we discuss mulisynch; a multiagent system. It provides ...

Human cognition is unique in the way in which it relies on combinatorial (or compositional) structures. Language provides ample evidence for the existence of combinatorial structures, but they can also be found in visual cognition. To understand the neural basis of human cognition, it is therefore essential to understand how combinatorial structures can be instantiated in neural terms. In his recent book on the foundations of language, Jackendoff described four fundamental problems for a neural instantiation of combinatorial structures: the massiveness of the binding problem, the problem of 2, the problem of variables, and the transformation of combinatorial structures from working memory to long-term memory. This paper aims to show that these problems can be solved by means of neural "blackboard" architectures. For this purpose, a neural blackboard architecture for sentence structure is presented. In this architecture, neural structures that encode for words are temporarily bound in a manner that preserves the structure of the sentence. It is shown that the architecture solves the four problems presented by Jackendoff. The ability of the architecture to instantiate sentence structures is illustrated with examples of sentence complexity observed in human language performance. Similarities exist between the architecture for sentence structure and blackboard architectures for combinatorial structures in visual cognition, derived from the structure of the visual cortex. These architectures are briefly discussed, together with an example of a combinatorial structure in which the blackboard architectures for language and vision are combined. In this way, the architecture for language is grounded in perception. Perspectives and potential developments of the architectures are discussed.

This article presents a descriptive comparative study on two methods of teaching, the traditional and blended learning pedagogical approach in a Business Communication course. Forty-four (44) students from the two controlled groups were enrolled in the course for the first semester of school year 2017-2018 participated in the study. The findings indicated that respondents' performance in ENGL118 (English Composition) had an effect on their performance in BUS261(Business Communication) and there was a significant positive relationship between year level and final grade in BUS261. Therefore, it was concluded that the year level and grade in ENGL118 have correlationson student'sperformance in BUS261. The results of the assessments of the two groups were compared and indicated a significant difference in the results which was influenced by respondents' year level and mode of conducting assessments. It is further concluded, that if the characteristics of both groups were the same, blended would have been more effective than the traditional method.This study recommends adopting the blended pedagogical approach not only in BUS261 course but also to other courses as applicable.

In the automotive industry, the knowledge, information, and tools required for design, analysis, manufacturing, and testing of company products are distributed throughout the organization. This fragmentation of expertise and information creates impediments to cost-e ective design engineering. This article describes: 1) an approach to building integrated engineering environments based on blackboard technology as the integrating infrastructure; and 2) the RRM Engineering Environment, developed at Ford Research Laboratory. The RRM Engineering Environment is a large-scale prototype application comprising thirteen agents, some of which are legacy application programs, written in various languages, and distributed over heterogeneous machines and platforms. Use of integrated environments, such as the RRM environment, is expected to result in increased productivity, fewer delays and errors, and better communication among interacting participants in the design-to-manufacture process.

In multi-agent systems, blackboard communication provides an easy way for agents to communicate. However, in a distributed architecture, the blackboard is commonly implemented in a single node, that is the "blackboard server". This approach may work well for a small number of agents. Nevertheless, when the number of agents increases, the blackboard server becomes the bottleneck for the system scalability. In this work we propose a novel agent communication system based on distributed-shared mechanisms that allows the implementation of a shared address space on a distributed system, without centralizing the blackboard. Our idea is to distribute the shared data over the nodes and use a message passing sub-system, totally transparent to the agents. We implemented this idea in a multi-agent system based on social laws, and used a distributed-shared memory system to handle the messaging. We created a conflict simulator, and showed that the distributed-shared mechanisms easy the implementation of a truly distributed blackboard.

"It is desirable to encapsulate heuristic and empirical knowledge including hydrological and bio-geochemical considerations into the selection process of a potential landfill site. This paper delineates a prototype expert system, which has been developed using a commercially available microcomputer-based expert system shell VISUAL RULE STUDIO, for the selection of a landfill site. VISUAL RULE STUDIO acts as an ActiveX Designer under the Microsoft Visual Basic programming environment, with the hybrid knowledge representation approach under object-oriented design environment. The blackboard architecture, which is able to group all the knowledge together into an integrated system effectively, is adopted. The evaluation is based on the hazardous waste site ranking system recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency, adapted to Hong Kong conditions. Increase in efficiency, improvement, consistency of results and automated record keeping are among the advantages of such a system.

Keywords: sanitary landfill; expert system; blackboard architecture; hazardous waste site ranking system; site selection"

This article presents a descriptive comparative study on two methods of teaching, the traditional and blended learning pedagogical approach in a Business Communication course. Forty-four (44) students from the two controlled groups were enrolled in the course for the first semester of school year 2017-2018 participated in the study. The findings indicated that respondents' performance in ENGL118 (English Composition) had an effect on their performance in BUS261(Business Communication) and there was a significant positive relationship between year level and final grade in BUS261. Therefore, it was concluded that the year level and grade in ENGL118 have correlationson student'sperformance in BUS261. The results of the assessments of the two groups were compared and indicated a significant difference in the results which was influenced by respondents' year level and mode of conducting assessments. It is further concluded, that if the characteristics of both groups were the same, blended would have been more effective than the traditional method.This study recommends adopting the blended pedagogical approach not only in BUS261 course but also to other courses as applicable.

In this work we discuss the development of a web application in the domain of movie chains using a Blackboard architecture, which is a well-established style for solving the problem of control, communication and collaboration in a system; it has traditionally been accepted as adequate for heuristic problem solving though not generally used for web applications. We present and discuss how the Blackboard architecture is used as the style for a graduate course project in Software Engineering. Issues about the implementation of the architecture are described and an assessment using some software metrics is presented.

With increased number of new services and users being added to the communication network, management of such networks becomes crucial to provide assured quality of service. Finding skilled managers is often a problem. To alleviate this problem and also to provide assistance to the available network managers, network management has to be automated. Many attempts have been made in this direction and it is a promising area of interest to researchers in both academia and industry. In this paper, a review of the management complexities in present day networks and artificial intelligence approaches to network management are presented. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Global workspace (GW) theory emerged from the cognitive architecture tradition in cognitive science. Newell and co-workers were the first to show the utility of a GW or "blackboard" architecture in a distributed set of knowledge sources, which could cooperatively solve problems that no single constituent could solve alone. The empirical connection with conscious cognition was made by Baars (1988, 2002). GW theory generates explicit predictions for conscious aspects of perception, emotion, motivation, learning, working memory, voluntary control, and self systems in the brain. It has similarities to biological theories such as Neural Darwinism and dynamical theories of brain functioning. Functional brain imaging now shows that conscious cognition is distinctively associated with wide spread of cortical activity, notably toward frontoparietal and medial temporal regions. Unconscious comparison conditions tend to activate only local regions, such as visual projection areas. Fr...

The detection of attacks against computer networks is becoming a harder problem to solve in the field of network security. The dexterity of the attackers, the developing technologies and the enormous growth of internet traffic have made it difficult for any existing intrusion detection system to offer a reliable service. However, a close examination of the problem shows that there usually exists a behavioral pattern in the attacks that can be learned and can be used to detect intrusions more effectively. Thus, there is a requirement for a system with learning and adapting capabilities for optimal performance. This thesis discusses a Learning Intrusion Detection System called LIDS that includes a blackboard-based architecture with autonomous agents. It has the capability for online learning, which may result in better performance than present systems. This feature enables the system to adapt to changes in the network environment as it assimilates more network data.

"Owing to the high degree of vulnerability of liquid retaining structures to corrosion problems, there are stringent requirements in its design against cracking. In this paper, a prototype knowledge-based system is developed and implemented for the design of liquid retaining structures based on the blackboard architecture. A commercially available expert system shell VISUAL RULE STUDIO working as an ActiveX Designer under the VISUAL BASIC programming environment is employed. Hybrid knowledge representation approach with production rules and procedural methods under object-oriented programming are used to represent the engineering heuristics and design knowledge of this domain. It is demonstrated that the blackboard architecture is capable of integrating different knowledge together in an effective manner. The system is tailored to give advice to users regarding preliminary design, loading specification and optimized configuration selection of this type of structure. An example of application is given to illustrate the capabilities of the prototype system in transferring knowledge on liquid retaining structure to novice engineers.

Keywords: expert-system; flow; management, liquid retaining structure, design, blackboard architecture"

In a competitive environment, selecting and effectively using reliable information technologies, accurate methodologies and the right information systems, led to a search for an audit process. The information system audit process is therefore viewed as a detailed field program of many steps related to two basic decisions: • The information acquisition decision, addressing the selection of audit tests to be performed, • The audit opinion decision, involving the integration of test results leading to an opinion. In this paper, we present an audit expert system, called INFAUDITOR, aiding the audit process related to management information systems. It has two fundamentul features: • It covers all domains of information systems, managerial as well as technical aspects. • It helps to determine, in a given audit situation, the respective importance that should be given to the different audit domains and tests of control. This customization process is determined by means of rules and depends on the audit objectives, the entreprise's characteristics and its information system. Since information systems auditing is a multicriterion decision, INFAUDITOR structures the audit domains and tests of control as a hierarchical audit tree following an analytic hierarchical process. It is a decision aid for auditors and provides integrated support for all aspects of the information system audit process. INFAUDITOR consists of several expert systems as in blackboard architecture. Its fact bases include the characteristics of the enterprise, its information system and the audit objectives, while the rule bases encompass the criteria, the general audit tree and the rules of customization. INFA UDITOR has been successfully applied to several real-life situations.

This paper describes a distributed dialogue management scheme for speechbased information seeking dialogue. The dialogue management is distributed to several components, supported by a general blackboard-type architecture for speech systems. By breaking down the dialogue management, we can achieve more general solutions and support sophisticated decision making algorithms.

Vehicle intelligent control is a robotics real time application where elaborated reasoning process and reactive process work together and have to cooperate or more to be interdependent. Multi-agent systems are well suited to such complex systems specification, because of their software engineering, their reasoning capabilities (from a cognitive point of view) or their performances (from a reactive point of view). This paper proposes a model of agent integrating both reactive and deliberative capabilities adapted to real time context. The paper introduces and discusses the use of a parallel blackboard architecture to support the agent model in order to meet real time constraints. An illustration of the functioning of the agent architecture is given through a roadway traffic scenario emphasizing the main aspects of real time distributed decision making

"It is desirable to incorporate heuristic and empirical knowledge including hydrological and bio-geochemical considerations into the selection process of a potential landfill site. In this article, a prototype expert system for the selection of a landfill site, with hybrid knowledge representation approach under object-oriented design environment in a blackboard architecture, is described. It incorporates an artificial neural network for training of partial hazardous scores and a fuzzy rule base for the representation of heuristic knowledge. The evaluation is based on the hazardous waste site ranking system recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency, adapted to Hong Kong conditions by incorporating the stipulation of some local regulations. It is shown to be a useful aid in assisting novice engineers in the selection process of a potential landfill site during preliminary investigation.

Keywords: artificial neural network; blackboard architecture; expert system; fuzzy inference; hazardous waste; sanitary landfill; site selection"

Decision-making systems for mobile robots require real time constraints. Multi-agent systems are powerful to build such real time systems. We propose a tool and a methodology to design mobile robot controllers based on a multi-agent approach. A model for multi-agent specifications is presented, based on the blackboard concept with a generic control. In order to optimize and to validate this control a real time computational model is proposed

This paper presents the representational model of a standard, background research it: standards processing, and a current research project which uses a knowledge-based system approach to standards processing. The representational model of a standard, based on decision tables, was originally developed in 1966 and has been continually modified and improved since that time. Concurrent with the development of this model was the development of its uses in computer-aided standards processing, such as automated conformance checking and design. As an extension of this standards processing research, a knowledge-based standards processor is'being built that will act as an interface between CAD programs and design standards. The knowledge-based standards processor uses a blackboard architecture similar to that of Hearsay-II, a speech understanding program. The processor's knowledge is divided up into about ten knowledge sources, most of which are standard-independent. The knowledge sources are responsible for the development of a design script that can be used to perform the CAD program's member design tasks, while satisfying the governing design standard.

An Architecture for Multiple Heterogeneous Case-Based Reasoning Employing Agent Technologies. Elena I Teodorescu and Miltos Petridis1 Abstract. This paper presents an investigation into applying Case-Based Reasoning to Multiple Heterogeneous Case Bases using ...

This paper describes a software specification method based on high-level Petri net patterns known as HPrTN patterns. HPrTN patterns rely on a pattern catalog, and a formal basis for specializing, instantiating, and composing existing patterns. We show the usefulness of our approach via modeling of a Blackboard system.

The theory of behaviour-based systems (or autonomous agents) constitutes a useful approach for the modelling of intracellular signalling networks. In this sense, a cell can be seen as an adaptive autonomous agent or as a society of such agents, where each can exhibit a particular behaviour depending on its cognitive capabilities. We present an intracellular signalling model obtained by integrating several computational techniques into an agent-based paradigm. Cellulat, the model, takes into account two essential aspects of the intracellular signalling networks: (1) cognitive capacities, which are modelled as the agent abilities to interact with the surrounding medium and (2) a spatial organisation, this last obtained using a shared data structure through which the agents communicate between them. We propose a methodology for the modelling of intracellular signalling pathway using Cellulat and we discuss the goal of a virtual laboratory based on our model and presently under development. #

The set of partially interdependent lexical and syntactic decisions that have to be made in the process of natural language generation are best seen as a complex planning and search problem. This paper discusses the phenomena involved in natural language generation planning and argues that a blackboard-type architecture with agenda-style control is more appropriate for this task than a sequential control architecture with backtracking. The blackboard architecture we describe is implemented in the language generator DIOGENES.

Bat.4. AV. A. Einstcin, Sophia antipolis, 06560 Valboiiiie FRANCE I INTRODUCTION This paper present,s a methodology for designing global softwa.re arcliitect,ures for robotic cont,rol from user to physica.1 device interface. This methodology is based on an aiialysis of the probleiii of control. This control is vicwed as a "distributed blackboards" decomposition. Tlie cla,ssical blackboa.rd concept, [4] is present,ed as a sliaxed da.ta. struct.ure, specialized a.geiit,s, a monitoring and scheduling cont,rol. Diverse a.bst,ra.ctioii levels a.re defined in the data st,rnct.ure, relat,ive t,o t81rr applic.a.t.ion doni a.i n. The principal advanhges of I)lackbon.rd structures [7] and their relations to robotics [l] a.re: I<nowledge distribution: robotic knowledge is 1a.rge and versat,ile. Expert. cooperat,ion: problems x e complex. Asynchronism (pa.ra.llelism possibili t,ies): rc:al t.ini(> aspect,s iiiiply opt,imized processing achievcd I Iirougl~ pa.ralleiism. Events based react,ivity: atlapt~at,ion to rol)ot,ic teins evolution. In our decoii-iposit,ion, three blackhoartls rc.yrc=scvl t.he three aspects of int,elligent, cont.rol, rfnl trrorfd 7uodelling, planiring a.nd disivrbuied control [:33 (figure 1). Each iiiodule is based on a. hlackboa.rd archit,ect tire specialized for each of t,he aspects of cont,rol: a. graphical blackboard for int,era.ction, a classical oiie for reasoning. a.nd a. pardlel real time one for control. The sect,ioii 11 describes a mobile robotics application spec,ified with t.liis methodology. Such a n approach is part,icularly ac1apt.d in this mea where cont.ro1 is various and complex and reactivity is nreclccl. Tlie 111 sect.ion briefly reviews t.he atlequat.ion ancl the adapta.tion of this dec.oinposit,ioii to mine t\'pe of application in Telerobot,ics and Computer hliisics. Nn.tura.1 dist,ributioii of the probleiii of control a n d rea.1 time constra.int,s iiiot,iva,te the s;tudy of an origina.1 parallel blackboard archit,ecture. This section t,l~en foc,iisses on the description of a iiiodel for the execution control blackboard. In order to v:tlida.te the approach, a Petri network expressing the activity of this original arcliit.ect ure aiid synchronous and asynchronous aspects are lheii introduced. 'An experimental protot,ype is developed in re1ot.ion to an esist.iiig project, I S , ESSI, ISM, INRIA, C" ECA 147

The Maneuver Decision Aid (MDA) is a knowledge-based planner currently being developed at the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center. the goal of MDA is to generate an optimal next-maneuver recommendation, to support the submarine commander&#x27;s decision making process which includes absorbing an extensive amount of complex information in the short time interval between maneuvers. The model for the maneuver generation process decomposes into three main parts: situation assessment, goal formulation, and constraint satisfaction. It is essential for an automated reasoning system in this domain to consider all factors and concerns in a given situation to put forth its best recommendation. A key aspect of this model is that all identified situation goals and constraints are represented and combined according to their varying degrees of importance. The authors describe how constraint ratings are evaluated and combined within an object-oriented blackboard framework. The focus is on how rated-c...

This paper presents MESSIE, a multi-specialist architecture for scene interpretation in a robotic application. MESSIE is a centralized hierarchical blackboard architecture. The generic model of objects and the explicit description of sensors and materials allow the use of an application independent interpretation strategy. Two remote sensing applications on 2D scene interpretation and a third one, presented in this paper, on 3D scene interpretation allow the validation of the proposed architecture as well as the main features of MESSIE. After a brief overview of the state of art in 3D object modeling and scene interpretation, we discuss the scene interpretation problem from the knowledge representation view point. Then the architecture of MESSIE, the object modeling and the processing strategies (object detection and scene interpretation) are described. Further an application of 3D indoor scene interpretation in mobile robot context is given. We also present an interpretation running example using constrained low-level feature extraction mechanism to improve the image segmentation results.

Human cognition is unique in the way in which it relies on combinatorial (or compositional) structures. Language provides ample evidence for the existence of combinatorial structures, but they can also be found in visual cognition. To understand the neural basis of human cognition, it is therefore essential to understand how combinatorial structures can be instantiated in neural terms. In his recent book on the foundations of language, Jackendoff described four fundamental problems for a neural instantiation of combinatorial structures: the massiveness of the binding problem, the problem of 2, the problem of variables, and the transformation of combinatorial structures from working memory to long-term memory. This paper aims to show that these problems can be solved by means of neural "blackboard" architectures. For this purpose, a neural blackboard architecture for sentence structure is presented. In this architecture, neural structures that encode for words are temporarily bound in a manner that preserves the structure of the sentence. It is shown that the architecture solves the four problems presented by Jackendoff. The ability of the architecture to instantiate sentence structures is illustrated with examples of sentence complexity observed in human language performance. Similarities exist between the architecture for sentence structure and blackboard architectures for combinatorial structures in visual cognition, derived from the structure of the visual cortex. These architectures are briefly discussed, together with an example of a combinatorial structure in which the blackboard architectures for language and vision are combined. In this way, the architecture for language is grounded in perception. Perspectives and potential developments of the architectures are discussed.

Attempts to apply conventional rule-based expert systems to legal problem-solving raise seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The authors analyse the key challenges of developing a legal expert system by reference to a case study of issues arising in their prototype system, the JAES project. This paper explores the advantages of exploiting three alternative approaches- namely: case-based reasoning, blackboard architecture, and service-oriented architecture for the next generation of legal expert systems. The authors advocate the use of hybrid architecture to address the complexity and dynamic nature of the legal domain. The paper evaluates the extent to which these enhancements can meet the special complexities of the legal domain.

This paper presents a knowledge-based approach for dynamic rescheduling. Scheduling is a complex activity often influenced by diverse and conflicting constraints. The problem is complicated further by dynamic environments, where rescheduling in response to changes is critical. In this paper a generalized architecture for dynamic rescheduling is presented. The architecture combines a blackboard-based opportunistic scheduling system that is integrated with reason maintenance capabilities. The blackboard component focuses on the process of constructing a schedule that is deemed to be primarily opportunistic in nature. The reason maintenance capabilities of the system focus on rescheduling, keeping track of justifications for assignments, and ensuring that the current schedule is always valid, that is, flee of inconsistencies.

In this paper the motivation, design and application of a distributed blackboard architecture for interactive data visualization is discussed. The main advantages of the architecture are twofold. First, it allows visualization tools to be tightly integrated with simulations. Second, it allows qualitative and quantitative analysis to be combined during the visualization process.

"During the design of storm drainage system, many decisions are involved on the basis of rules of thumb, heuristics, judgment, code of practice and previous experience of the designer. It is a suitable application field for application of the recent artificial intelligence technology. This paper presents the knowledge representation of the design of storm drainage system in a prototype knowledge-based system. Blackboard architecture with hybrid knowledge representation techniques including production rule system and object-oriented approach is adopted. Through custom-built interactive and user-friendly user interfaces, it furnishes designers with entailed expertise in this domain problem.

Keywords: expert-system; blackboard architecture; networks; package; flow; integration, knowledge representation, design, storm drainage system"