INSPECT is a knowledge-based system that we developed using the EXPECT framework. The knowledge base captures criteria that experienced planners from CHECKMATE use to build good plans. INSPECT uses these criteria to detect plan incompleteness, problems with plan structure, and lack of resources. INSPECT produces an agenda of all these kinds of problems found with the plan, and shows it to the user together with detailed explanations of the reasons for each problem and suggestions for how the user can fix each problem.
Without a tool like INSPECT, ACPT users can create plans that may be inconsistent or have low quality. Another benefit of using INSPECT is to help users plan effectively in crisis situations, when the time pressures make it very hard to manually check the consistency of all the alternative plans that are considered for a given crisis, each one changing as the crisis evolves. Ultimately, INSPECT could also be used as a training tool for planners, by pointing out possible faults in the plans they create.
Although not demonstrated in IFD-4, an important benefit of building a tool like INSPECT with the EXPECT framework is to support users in knowledge acquisition and maintenance. Because each campaign is different, the knowledge base of any planning tool must be updated to include all the particulars of the scenario: forces and resources available, specific rules of engagement, etc. As part of our research, we continue to develop interactive knowledge acquisition tools that allow end-users to maintain and update knowledge-based systems.
The first IFD was DART, a system developed to schedule the transportation of all U.S. personnel and materials such as vehicles, food, and ammunition from Europe to Saudi Arabia during the operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. It prompted the now famous quote that DART alone "reportedly more than offset all the money the Advanced Research Projects Agency had funneled into AI research in the last 30 years" (Critical Technology Assesment of the US Artificial Intelligence Sector, US Department of Commerce, August 1994.)
Although ACPT is a relatively new system, it was used by CHECKMATE to help NATO commanders select targets in Bosnia. Efforts are under way to transform the IFD-4 demonstration software into a usable tool for CHECKMATE and ultimately for the numbered air forces throughout the world.
Valente, A., Swartout, W. R. and Gil, Y. A Representation and Library for Objectives in Air Campaign Plans .