Knowledge decomposition for a product design blackboard expert system

Product design is a complex process, requiring many design factors and knowledge areas to be considered simultaneously. An expert system with a blackboard architecture is appropriate for representing this variety of factors and areas. However, oftentimes it is unclear how to transform the knowledge into the component knowledge bases of a blackboard expert system. The paper describes a non-directed graph decomposition procedure for transforming the knowledge into knowledge bases as part of an approach for developing a product design blackboard expert system. A wood head golf club design example is provided.