Configuration of Complex Systems

Many systems involve various parts and components that all must work together correctly.  This can be anything from a home entertainment system to a complex manufacturing line.  Exsys Corvid systems help in configuration and compatibility issues by dynamically recommending components that will work together; or they can validate configurations that are generated by other means to make sure that any potential problems are detected and resolved before the system is shipped to the customer or goes online.  Configuration problems are ideal for knowledge automation since they generally involve large numbers of detailed rules that must be processed systematically - something Corvid handles superbly. 

When a customer buys a system made up of various components, they expect all the parts to be complimentary with each other, all the cables and connectors to be correct and everything to go together smoothly.  

Unfortunately for complex systems, validating the configuration can be very difficult.  There can be many levels of detail to consider and validate:

• Can all the components communicate?
  
• Are there enough sockets to make the connections?
  
• Are there enough cables of the correct type and length?
  
• Can the components be arranged in an effective way?

These and many other variables need to be checked, and a change in one can ripple through to the others.  It is a difficult task for a person, but is very well suited to an Exsys Corvid Knowledge Automation System.  The Exsys Inference Engine supports “Backward Chaining”, which is a way to break a problem into small sub-tasks that are automatically called as needed.  This allows the configuration logic to be defined in relatively simple, detailed rules on specific aspects of the design.  The Inference Engine will find and use the rules it requires to derive information needed by higher-level rules.  For example, a higher-level rule determines there must be enough sockets to make all the required connections.  Lower-level rules would describe what connectors each component has and the options for how these could be connected.  Backward Chaining would automatically call the appropriate lower-level rules to determine if the values needed in higher-level rules.  It may sound complicated, but it is really quite simple, and the Exsys Corvid Inference Engine does it automatically.  Backward Chaining can be used many layers deep, allowing even very complex configurations to be divided up into rules that are easy to understand and maintain.

Corvid systems can also help a user in designing a configuration by only allowing the selection of components that would work together based on key products, inventory or data on the customers needs and requirements.