Published in L Steels and B Le Pape (Editors)
Enhancing the Knowledge Engineering Process
North-Holland Elsevier

Validation of KBS:
The VALID project[*]

Pedro Meseguer & Enric Plaza

IIIA - Institut d'Investigació en Intel.ligència Artificial,
CSIC - Spanish Scientific Research Council,
Campus Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona,
08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
Voice: +34 3 5809570;
Fax: +34 3 5809661;
{pedro | plaza} @iiia.csic.es

Abstract

We summarize the work and the approach of the Esprit-II VALID project, the aim of which was to develop methods an tools for the validation of Knowledge-Based Systems. The project has developed a validation environment in which different KBS can be validated. It includes a validation toolkit comprising seven tools, ranging from inconsistency detection to KBS inspectors. The knowledge engineer can interact with the validation toolkit using windows and menus. Validation tools produced by the VALID project have been tested on real KBS and have been useful in improving their performance. A number of conclusions regarding KBS validation extracted from our experience close the paper.

• 1. The Validation problem
  • 1.1 Definition of KBS Validation
  • 1.2 Relevance of KBS Validation
• 2. The VALID Project Approach
  • 2.1 Background on KBS Validation
    • Verification Tools
    • KB Refinement Tools
    • Testing: Case Studies
  • 2.2 Definition of the VALID Approach
  • 2.3 Research Strategy
  • 2.4 Evaluation of the Approach
  • 2.5 Project Participants
• 3. Results
  • 3.1 Results of the Approach
    • 3.1.1 Theoretical results
    • 3.1.3 Software results
      • Validation Tools and Techniques
        • CONKRET
        • CONTROLLER
        • CURRICULUM KB
        • EXECUTION-VISUALIZER
        • IN-DEPTH
        • PENIC
        • WITNESS
      • VALID Environment
    • 3.1.5. Human resources and technology transfer
  • 3.2 Results of Approach Evaluation
    • 3.2.1 Evaluation of the theoretical results
    • 3.2.2 Evaluation of the software results
      • Interfacing capabilities
      • Evaluation of VETA
      • Evaluation of Validation Tools
  • 3.3 Interpretation of Results
    • Learning in validation
    • Development of a General Formal Model
• 4. Conclusions
  • 4.1 Impact of the VALID Project
  • 4.2 Future Research Directions
  • Acknowledgements
• References