The first generation of expert systems focused on supporting a single user while working on a very specific task. More recently there has been a trend towards emphasising the cooperation between multiple users which have a variety of tasks. This is leading to a realisation of the concept of a knowledge medium (Gruber,1994) or community memory (Steels, 1976).
An example of such an application is the cooperation between different engineers involved in the production of integrated circuits (Pan et.al.,1989). Each engineer has a specific competence, such as maintenance of the facilities, design of circuits, design of production, diagnosis, handling of materials, financial aspects, etc. They all cooperate through their own dedicated interfaces enhanced with expert systems technology. But there are also various mechanisms for exchanging specifications, mutual warning of difficulties, etc. Similar applications have been proposed for mechanical engineering and for the monitoring and diagnosis of complex technical equipment. (Garcia,1995).
Distributed measuring networks in which data are taken from sensors and are to be interpreted is another application where software agents could provide a layer for the presentation of results to users, the transportation over networks, the enhancement of intelligent functions, etc.
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Fundamental Electricity and Instrumentation
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, ESAT-MICAS, Departement Elektrotechniek
Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Unit of Theoretical Behavioral Ecology