An Introduction to Expert Systems and Knowledge Acquisition Techniques

This report is the by-product of information collected by the authors during research into expert system technology conducted at the Air Force Institute of Technology. That research involved methods for selecting appropriate tools or knowledge acquisition techniques to collect information from experts. In the course of the research, the authors discovered that no single publication discussed all of the collection techniques that a knowledge engineer might want to evaluate. This brief report attempts to remedy that deficiency by consolidating into one document the primary knowledge acquisition techniques used today. For each technique, the authors have provided a short description, evaluation, and bibliography for individuals who want to evaluate a technique in greater depth. The discussion of techniques is introduced by an overview of some issues and architectures of expert system design.