[Inquiry] Re: Prospects for Inquiry Driven Systems

[Jon Awbrey]

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PRO.  Note 2

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Systems Engineering:  Interest Statement

Jon Awbrey, September 1, 1992

It seemed useful, as a way of sharpening my focus on goals ahead,
to write up an extended statement of current research interests
and directions.  I realize that many features of this sketch are
likely to change as details are clarified and as new experience
is gained.  As an alternative to the longer essay, an abstract
is provided as a minimal statement.

Abstract

In briefest terms my project is to develop mutual applications
of systems theory and artificial intelligence to each other.
In the current phase of investigation I am taking a standpoint
in systems theory, working to extend its concepts and methods
to cover increasingly interesting classes of intelligent systems.
A natural side-project is directed toward improving the economy
of effort by unifying a selection of tools being used in these
two fields.  My instrumental focus is placed on integrating the
methods of differential geometry with the techniques of logic
programming.  I will attempt to embody this project in the form
of computer-implemented connections between geometric dynamics
and logical AI, and I will measure its success by the extent
and usefulness of this realization.

Description of Current and Proposed Work

I intend to focus primarily on the research area of
artificial intelligence.  In my work of the past few
years I have sought to apply the framework of systems
theory to the problems of AI.  I believe that viewing
intelligent systems as dynamic systems can provide
a unifying perspective for the array of problems and
methods that currently constitutes the field of AI.

The return benefits to systems theory would be equally
valuable, enabling the implementation of more intelligent
software for the study of complex systems.  The engineering
of this software could extend work already begun in simulation
modeling (Widman, Loparo, & Nielsen, 1989), (Yip, 1991), nonlinear
dynamics and chaos (Rietman, 1989), (Tufillaro, Abbott, & Reilly, 1992),
and expert systems (Bratko, Mozetic, & Lavrac, 1989), with increasing
capabilities for qualitative inference about complex systems and for
intelligent navigation of dynamic manifolds (Weld & de Kleer, 1990).

Jon Awbrey

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