MIDAS - AN APPLICATION OF MODEL-BASED REASONING FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS

The traditional approach to the development of diagnostic knowledge-based systems has been rule-based, where experiential and heuristic knowledge is encoded in a suite of production rules. Despite the success of such rule-based systems it has been recognised that they suffer from a number of limitations owing to the shallowness of their knowledge. Much of the current thrust of research is focusing on the use of model-based reasoning, which provides knowledge of the structure and function of the device under diagnosis. The paper describes the design and development of a model-based system for diagnosis which aids in the troubleshooting of complex hydro-mechanical devices. The resultant system, named MIDAS, has now been implemented successfully.