Doctoral Abstracts (1990-2001)

CHU, ERIC HAI-CHENG
(December 1995), Associate Professor, FengChia University, Taichung, Taiwan

Email: hcchu@fcu.edu.tw

A Distributed Co-operative Homogeneous Multi Agent Approach for Parallel Fuzzy Expert Systems in Surface Mount PWB Assembly

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been (and is being) used in many fields, especially in the manufacturing arena. Expert systems are a facet of AI which have been widely applied in different domains from medical diagnosis to industrial manufacturing. Recently, a new branch of AI called Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) has emerged. It preserves the characteristics of AI while demonstrating its distinct features. The use of DAI for manufacturing systems applications in the Printed Wiring Board (PWB) assembly arena is the focus of this research along with the use of methods to deal with issues that relate to the uncertainty that is inherent in manufacturing.

The Distributed Cooperative Homogeneous Multi-agent (DCBM based approach uses multiple expert systems (including fuzzy expert systems) for problem solving in the surface mount PWB manufacturing domain. This research combines Computer-Aided Design (CAD), dynamic Computer- Aided Process Planning (CAPP), Concurrent Engineering (CE), Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS), Local Area Networks (LAN), DAI, distributed expert systems, fuzzy expert systems, distributed processing, and the management of uncertainties into one problem solving system. The DCHM system includes an information center, a stencil printing intelligent agent and a reflow soldering intelligent agent. Review of the incoming CAD design from a DFM perspective is done, and a cost evaluation can also be performed.

Inputs to the DCHM system is primarily in the form of a CAD file of the PWB's design. Outputs include a review of the design from manufacturing perspectives as well as process plans for some PWB assembly process (stencil printing and reflow soldering). Communication, cooperation, and negotiation among all the intelligent agents with respect to the dynamic process planning function is reflected in the DCHM system. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) concepts are widely used in this research. Personal computers act as intelligent agents, and the interaction between them occurs through communication across a LAN.