Program Supervision : Yakl and Pegase+ Reference and User Manual

This document describes concepts and tools that we have developed for the program supervision task. The first part is a reference manual, which introduces the concepts involved in this task as well as the proposed knowledge language and inference engine to achieve this task. The second part is a user's manual, which details both the Yakl description language and the Pegase+ engine. It also provides examples and methodological recommendations to develop a program supervision system with Yakl and Pegase+

On-line counting of pests in a greenhouse using computer vision

International audienceThis article is concerned with the on-line counting of some harmful insects in videos in the framework of in situ video-surveillance that aims at the early detection of pest attacks in greenhouse crops. The challenges mainly concern the tiny resolution and color contrast of the insects of interest in the videos, the outdoor issues and the quasi-real time constraints. Thus, we propose a complete video-processing chain that can cope with such challenges quite satisfactorily while yielding an acceptable performance. The system has been validated off-line against many recorded videos for the whiteflie species (one potential harmful pest species)

A C++ Frame Library : User Manual and Implementation Notes

This document briefly describes FrameLib, a C++ library to manipulate "frames" as they are used in the Artificial Intelligence world. The library provides a general framework (!) for creating new frames (!!) by inheritance. The intended use is to generate new frames automatically, from a frame description language. But nothing prevents from using this library "manually". This document should be sufficient for directly using the library or for using it on an automatic generation basis. It also presents some design issues for those who are interested in the guts of the library. Note that FrameLib requires a C++ compiler supporting templates, ANSI exceptions, and RTTI (Run Time Type Information

Opérationalisation de connaissances pour le calage de modèles numériques - Application en hydraulique fluviale

[Departement_IRSTEA]RE [TR1_IRSTEA]RIE / TRANSFEAUCet article présente une expérience d'ingénierie des connaissances réalisée sur une utilisation avancée des codes de calcul : le calage de modèles numériques. Les connaissances associées à cette tâche ont été modélisées grâce à un langage de représentation de connaissances développé pour une tâche voisine : le pilotage de programmes. Après une présentation de la démarche adoptée, les résultats de notre modélisation sont organisés selon trois niveaux de généricité diférente. La tâche générique de calage a été spécialisée dans le domaine de l'hydraulique fluviale, puis une application avec un code de calcul spécifique a été implémentée de manière opérationnelle. Enfin, l'accent est mis sur les leçons tirées de cette expérience

Gestion opérationnelle des connaissances sur les codes

International audienceThis paper proposes an approach to the management and utilization of codes viewed as systems. This approach takes into account the whole “continuum” that exists from the knowledge of experts, computer scientists to the users of the codes: i.e., scientific, business, experimental, etc. knowledge. We define a referential for code management, from their design and development up to their use which encompasses all this knowledge. Inside the chain of possible means for code management, we propose two new techniques, that complement software engineering ones. On the one hand, knowledge books contain the essential knowledge and know-how to understand and achieve the tasks supported by the codes. On the other hand, program supervision tools encapsulate knowledge on code utilization and help achieve these business tasks.Cet article propose une vision large de la gestion et de l'utilisation des codes en tant que systèmes, qui prend en compte tout le « continuum » qui existe entre les connaissances des experts et des utilisateurs de codes, les connaissances de leurs concepteurs informatiques et les connaissances permettant l'utilisation opérationnelle de ces codes. Un système de codes synthétise en effet un vaste ensemble de connaissances scientifiques, métier, expérimentales, etc. Elles sont fournies tout au long de la vie du système de codes par divers acteurs, ce qui implique des passages de connaissances nécessaires mais peu formalisés. Le génie logiciel offre des solutions à certaines difficultés dans la gestion des codes, mais ses outils sont limités aux seuls programmes informatiques. Or, les programmes ne permettent pas un accès à toutes les connaissances importantes liées aux codes. Nous définissons un référentiel pour la gestion des codes, depuis leur conception et leur développement jusqu'à leur utilisation, qui couvre toutes ces connaissances. Dans la chaîne de moyens mis en place pour la gestion des codes, nous avons identifié deux points faibles : le passage de la documentation scientifique et technique aux documents de développement (informatiques) et le passage de la documentation utilisateur à l'utilisation opérationnelle. Notre travail porte sur ces deux points et propose de nouveaux moyens, complémentaires à ceux du génie logiciel, pour pallier ces faiblesses. D’une part, les livres de connaissances, contiennent les connaissances et savoir-faire essentiels à la compréhension et la réalisation des tâches supportées par les codes. C'est un nouveau type de documentation associé aux codes qui en facilite la gestion. D’autre part, les outils de pilotage de codes, intègrent des connaissances sur l'utilisation des codes et aident à la réalisation des tâches métiers supportés par ceux-ci. Nous étudions aussi comment des passerelles entre ces types d'outils peuvent faciliter l'automatisation des passages de connaissances délicats entre ces deux points

Dynamic Reconfiguration of Feature Models: an Algorithm and its Evaluation

This paper deals with dynamic adaption of software architecture in response to context changes. In the line of “models at run time”, we keep a model of the system and its context in parallel with the running system itself. We adopted an enriched Feature Model approach to express the variability of the architecture as well as of the context. A context change is transformed into a set of feature modifications (selection/deselection) that we validate against the feature model to yield a new suitable and valid architecture configuration. Then we update the model view of the configuration and the running system architecture accordingly. The paper focuses on the feature model reconfiguration step and details the algorithms and heuristics that implement our adaptation rules. The approach is illustrated with a simple example borrowed from the videosurveillance domain. The efficiency of the algorithm is evaluated on randomly generated feature models (from 60 to 1400 features). Our results show that in our target applications (video analysis), the processing time of a context change may be considered negligible

Tackling High Variability in Video Surveillance Systems through a Model Transformation Approach

taux acceptation 44%International audienceThis work explores how model-driven engineering techniques can support the configuration of systems in domains presenting multiple variability factors. Video surveillance is a good candidate for which we have an extensive experience. Ultimately, we wish to automatically generate a software component assembly from an application specification, using model to model transformations. The challenge is to cope with variability both at the specification and at the implementation levels. Our approach advocates a clear separation of concerns. More precisely, we propose two feature models, one for task specification and the other for software components. The first model can be transformed into one or several valid component configurations through step-wise specialization. This paper outlines our approach, focusing on the two feature models and their relations. We particularly insist on variability and constraint modeling in order to achieve the mapping from domain variability to software variability through model transformations

Une bibliothèque pour des moteurs de pilotage de programmes

Notre objectif est de faciliter la construction de systèmes à base de connaissances (SBC). Pour cela, nous construisons des moteurs {\it dédiés} à une classe de problèmes. Les travaux exposés dans ce rapport proposent de baser la construction de ces moteurs sur des composants {\em réutilisables}. Le but est d'améliorer la rapidité de construction et de modification des moteurs ainsi que la sécurité de programmation. Dans un premier temps, nous avons décidé de nous restreindre à une classe de problèmes particulière~: les problèmes de {\it pilotage de programmes}, dont une sous-partie importante est la tâche de planification. A partir de différents modèles de moteurs de pilotage de programmes, nous avons défini une première {\it bibliothèque de structures de données et d'instructions de base} pour le pilotage de programmes et nous l'avons utilisée pour l'écriture de nouveaux moteurs

A Cognitive Vision Approach to Early Pest Detection in Greenhouse Crops

International audienceEarly disease detection is a major challenge in horticulture. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) combines prophylactic, biological and physical methods to fight bioagressors of crops while minimizing the use of pesticides. This approach is particularly promising in the context of ornamental crops in greenhouses because of the high level of control needed in such agrosystems. However, IPM requires frequent and precise observations of plants (mainly leaves), which are not compatible with production constraints. Our goal is early detection of bioagressors. In this paper, we present a strategy based on advances in automatic interpretation of images applied to leaves of roses scanned in situ. We propose a cognitive vision system that combines image processing, learning and knowledge-based techniques. This system is illustrated with automatic detection and counting of a whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood) at a mature stage. We have compared our approach with manual methods and our results showed that automatic processing is reliable. Special attention was paid to low infestation cases, which are crucial to agronomic decisions

Program Supervision: from Knowledge Modeling to Dedicated Engines

In this report we present knowledge-based techniques for automating the use of a modular set of programs (or program supervision in short). Our goal is to provide tools which are both general and flexible. First we describe how program supervision knowledge can be modeled and we propose a knowledge description language, YAKL, to easily express this knowledge. Then we present two dedicated program supervision engines which are extensions of the OCAPI program supervision engine. The PEGASE engine provides mechanisms for managing sophisticated repair strategies. The second one PHENIX is a first attempt to introduce more dynamicity in the planning phase of PEGASE. Examples are shown through an image processing application, the morphological description of galaxies