A knowledge-based system for the analysis of electrical networks

A knowledge-based system for the analysis of electrical networks in alternate current in steady condition is presented. It is a glass box expert system, capable of determining and representing explicitly the current solution for a given problem. The system, mainly conceived for educational purposes, has been implemented in NEXPERT on a Macintosh platform. The system can work in different ways (fully automated or step-by-step) and determine one, some or all the possible solution paths. This, among other features, makes it well suited for educational purposes. The capability of determining all the resolution paths for a given problem has been obtained by using contexts. The system has been tested with several electrical circuits with satisfactory results both in terms of the correctness of the determined solutions and in terms of the performance for the response time. The results of the tests of the system confirmed our expectations about the advantage of a knowledge-based approach for systems to be used for educational purposes. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd