THE SUCCESSFUL INTRODUCTION OF AI TECHNOLOGY INTO SHIPBOARD DECISION MAKING HAS BEEN HINDERED BY THE NEED FOR REAL-TIME REASONING WITH INCOMPLETE AND INCONSISTENT DATA, RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS BETWEEN CONFLICTING OBJECTIVES, INTEGRATION OF HIGH LEVEL

THE SUCCESSFUL INTRODUCTION OF AI TECHNOLOGY INTO SHIPBOARD DECISION MAKING HAS BEEN HINDERED BY THE NEED FOR REAL-TIME REASONING WITH INCOMPLETE AND INCONSISTENT DATA, RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS BETWEEN CONFLICTING OBJECTIVES, INTEGRATION OF HIGH LEVEL SUBSYSTEMS WITH SYSTEMS FOR SIGNAL ANALYSIS, AND AN ADAPTIVE HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACE. DSC PROPOSES TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT SOLUTIONS FOR THESE PROBLEMS ARE LINKED, AND THAT IMPROVED ARCHITECTURES CAN BE DEVELOPED BY INCORPORATING FEATURES FROM BELIEF FUNCTIONS, THEORY FUZZY LOGIC, RECENT WORK IN BAYESIAN PROBABILITY, AND NON-NUMERICAL APPROACHES TO REASONING SUCH AS THE THEORY OF ENDORSEMENTS AND NON-MONOTONIC LOGIC. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF PHASE I RESEARCH IS TO EXPLORE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING NEW METHODS FOR INFERENCE IN SHIPBOARD EXPERT SYSTEMS, WHICH ADDRESS SPECIFIC SHORTCOMINGS IN EXISTING APPROACHES AND COMBINE SOME OF THEIR DISTINCT VIRTUES. THE SECOND OBJECTIVE OF PAHSE I RESEARCH IS TO IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SHIPBOARD APPLICATION DOMAINS THAT MAKE ONE INFERENCE SCHEME MORE APPROPRIATE THAN ANOTHER. FOUR TASKS HAVE BEEN PROPOSED: (1) A SYSTEMATIC EXAMINATION OF ALTERNATIVE EVIDENTIAL REASONING MECHANISMS; (2) EXAMINATION OF SHIPBOARD DECISION TASKS IN TERMS OF FACTORS RELEVANT TO EVIDENTIAL REASONING TECHNIQUES; (3) DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED SHIPBOARD EVIDENTIAL REASONING METHODS; (4) IMPLEMENTATION OF A SMALL-SCALE PROTOTYPE SYSTEM IN AN OPERATIONAL CONTEXT AND TESTING.