TY - JOUR
T1 - NED-2
T2 - An agent-based decision support system for forest ecosystem management
AU - Nute, Donald
AU - Potter, Walter D.
AU - Maier, Frederick
AU - Wang, Jin
AU - Twery, Mark
AU - Rauscher, H. Michael
AU - Knopp, Peter
AU - Thomasma, Scott
AU - Dass, Mayukh
AU - Uchiyama, Hajime
AU - Glende, Astrid
PY - 2004/9
Y1 - 2004/9
N2 - Decision making for forest ecosystem management can include the use of a wide variety of modeling tools. These tools include vegetation growth models, wildlife models, silvicultural models, GIS, and visualization tools. NED-2 is a robust, intelligent, goal-driven decision support system that integrates tools in each of these categories. NED-2 uses a blackboard architecture and a set of semi-autonomous agents to manage these tools for the user. The blackboard integrates a Microsoft Access database and Prolog clauses, and the agents are implemented in Prolog. A graphical user interface written in Visual C++ provides powerful inventory analysis tools, dialogs for selecting timber, water, ecological, wildlife, and visual goals, and dialogs for defining treatments and building prescriptive management plans. Users can simulate management plans and perform goal analysis on different views of the management unit, where a view is determined by a management plan and a point in time. Prolog agents use growth and yield models to simulate management plans, perform goal analyses on user-specified views of the management unit, display results of plan simulation using GIS tools, and generate hypertext documents containing the results of such analysis. Individual agents use metaknowledge to set up and run external simulation models, to load rule-based models and perform inference, to set up and execute external GIS and visualization systems, and to generate hypertext reports as needed, relieving the user from performing all these tasks.
AB - Decision making for forest ecosystem management can include the use of a wide variety of modeling tools. These tools include vegetation growth models, wildlife models, silvicultural models, GIS, and visualization tools. NED-2 is a robust, intelligent, goal-driven decision support system that integrates tools in each of these categories. NED-2 uses a blackboard architecture and a set of semi-autonomous agents to manage these tools for the user. The blackboard integrates a Microsoft Access database and Prolog clauses, and the agents are implemented in Prolog. A graphical user interface written in Visual C++ provides powerful inventory analysis tools, dialogs for selecting timber, water, ecological, wildlife, and visual goals, and dialogs for defining treatments and building prescriptive management plans. Users can simulate management plans and perform goal analysis on different views of the management unit, where a view is determined by a management plan and a point in time. Prolog agents use growth and yield models to simulate management plans, perform goal analyses on user-specified views of the management unit, display results of plan simulation using GIS tools, and generate hypertext documents containing the results of such analysis. Individual agents use metaknowledge to set up and run external simulation models, to load rule-based models and perform inference, to set up and execute external GIS and visualization systems, and to generate hypertext reports as needed, relieving the user from performing all these tasks.
KW - Blackboard architecture
KW - Decision support system
KW - Ecosystem management
KW - Knowledge based system
KW - Model management
KW - Prolog
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=2642518939&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envsoft.2003.03.002
DO - 10.1016/j.envsoft.2003.03.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:2642518939
SN - 1364-8152
VL - 19
SP - 831
EP - 843
JO - Environmental Modelling and Software
JF - Environmental Modelling and Software
IS - 9
ER -