Abstract

An expert system is software that emulates the decision making ability of a human expert. Although software tools are available that automatically select a likely lift system, these designs should always be checked by an expert. This paper thus poses the question "What is required in order to develop a truly expert system for lift traffic design that encapsulates sufficient expertise for a well thought out and robust design?" The paper explores the synthesizing of the sufficient expertise of a lift traffic analysis expert and the implementation of this expertise into software. The knowledge base required, the design processes followed, and the subtleties applied when the human expert considers borderline cases are explored. The resulting "expert engine" can be used to produce software tools, or quick selection graphs and tables, based on the embodied expertise of the human expert, in order to answer specific traffic design questions within specified boundaries.