CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Automated
troubleshooting as the name implies is the use of computer to help the
automobile engineers in detecting faults and providing solution to the fault
detected in a vehicle. It can also be said to be the use of computer to
troubleshoot in an automobile industry.
This
can only be achieved by building an Expert System. An Expert System is
software that uses a knowledge base of human expertise for problem solving, or
clarifies uncertainties where normally one or more human experts would need to
be consulted.
Expert
systems were introduced by researchers in the Stanford Heuristic Programming
Project, including the “father of expert systems” Edward Feigenbaum.
Principal contributors to the technology were Bruce Buchanan, Randall Davis,
Carli Scott, and others at Stanford.
Expert
systems are most valuable to organizations that have a high-level of know-how
experience and expertise that cannot be easily transferred to other members.
They
are designed to carry the intelligence and information found in the intellect
of experts and provide this knowledge to other members of the organization for
problem-solving purposes.
This
project will take into consideration, most of the common faults associated with
automobile and ways to rectify such faults. This project is a step on the right
direction to get the automobile industries highly computerized.
1.1 AIMS
AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
automobile engineers have a number of problems in finding faults and rectifying
the detected faults, this is due to the fact that all the processes involved
are done manually. The main objective of this project is to create an online
computerization of an automobile industry. The main aims include:
ØTo save time: A lot of time is conserved when using
computer
ØTo reduce or minimize fatigue: Human
beings experience fatigue due to overwork, illness and their state of mind and
this may cause delay but when an expert system is built, such experiences does
not occur as long as the basic requirements for the environment are provided
ØTo make work easier to learn and
understandable
ØTo make work faster and highly
efficient.
1.2 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
The
significance of this study is to let the individuals, or automobile engineers
have adequate understanding of what an expert system is and this has been
introduced to various fields. By this, a simple but descriptive explanation to
guide engineers on how to detect fault in an automobile and provide the
appropriate solution to the fault detected, and also give hints on maintaining
an automobile. This project is presented in such a way that the technical
faults that occur in a vehicle can be corrected successfully and faster.
1.3 METHODOLOGY
The
means of collecting data used in this project was in four ways:
ØInterview: Interviewing some of the senior workers
was carried out to collect information on the importance of computerized
troubleshooting system and other information needed for the study.
ØDirect Observation: Observing
directly activities in the workshop and arriving at a meaningful conclusion.
ØInternet: Information was also
obtained from automobile websites.
ØBibliographical Reference: References
were made to different textbooks and automobile manuals that gave more
explanation of the subject matter in question.
In
other to achieve the aims earlier mentioned above, an online computerized
system is designed to detect and correct faults, the program developed to
implement the system is written in PHP, MYSQL and HTML.
1.4 SCOPE
AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This
project will focus mainly on the computerization of an automobile industry i.e.
how the computer system can be used in troubleshooting a BMW vehicle and give
maintenance tips to the owner or driver. This can only be developed by building
an expert system.
This
system developed is applicable in the troubleshooting of the different
components in a vehicle. The computer can never be an engineer but it can serve
as a helper for people or engineers to diagnose faults. It is obvious that
computer behaves like human being but it is not. From this, one can easily see
that there is a limitation to what the computer system can do in terms of automobile
services.
1.5 ORGANISATION
OF THE PROJECT
This
project is grouped into five chapters. The aspect Organization of the project
is the description of each chapter contents.
Chapter
one talks about the general introduction of this topic, the objectives of the
study, the method used in collecting information, significance of the study and
definitions of some used terms.
Chapter
two deals with the literature review of the project. This chapter contains a
brief history of the case study, an overview of an engine analyzer, details of
an expert system and why an expert system is used for this project or in other
fields.
Chapter
three deals with all about the analysis of the existing system, problems
encountered when using the existing procedure. It also describes the new or
proposed system and the advantages of using the proposed system over the
existing system.
Chapter
four gives details of the system design which defines the detailed design and
specification of a processing system to carry out the already defined system
objectives and requirement. It also talks about the implementation techniques
used, the choice of the programming language used with reasons, maintenance and
how the new system should be used.
Chapter
five lastly gives the summary, recommendation and conclusion of the entire
project.
1.6 DEFINITION
OF TERMS USED
Expert System:
This is an embodiment with a computer that uses a knowledge base of human
expertise for problem solving, or clarifies uncertainties where normally one or
more human experts would need to be consulted. This expert system represents
the expertise knowledge as data or rules within the computer, these rules and
data can be called upon when needed to solve problems.
Conventionally
computer programs can perform tasks using conventional decision making logic
containing little knowledge other than the basic algorithm for solving specific
problem and necessary boundary conditions. This program knowledge is often
embedded as part of the programming code so that as the knowledge changes, the
program has to be changed and then rebuilt. The knowledge based system collect
the small fragments of human know-how into a knowledge base which is used to
reason through a problem using the appropriate knowledge. A different problem
within the domain of the knowledge base can be solved using the same program
without reprogramming. The ability of the system to explain the reasoning
process through back-traces and to handle levels of confidence and uncertainty
provides additional features that conventional programming doesn’t handle.
Troubleshooting:
This is a logical, technical and systematic method or way of locating or
detecting faults in a system and gives appropriate solution to the fault
detected.
Diagnostic:
This is the decision reached after the engineer has identified the problem of
the vehicle from its sign.
Maintenance:
This can be defined as the technical and corresponding administrative actions
that are necessary to keep an automobile component in a good condition in order
to perform or work in its standard functions. This is done in order to prolong
the lifespan of an automobile