TCAF: preemptive fault detection in telephone networks

This presentation describes TCAF, an expert system that performs 24-hour monitoring and surveillance of the customer access facilities (CAF) in GTE´s telephone network. TCAF is able to identify a large variety of problems, ranging from a fault in a customer´s phone to a cut in a large cable. The system is deployed throughout GTE´s US network and results show it to be 3-10 times more accurate, and more automated, than the methodologies currently employed by Local Exchange Carriers. Unlike many expert systems, TCAF performs its task totally without any human involvement. TCAF receives indications of possible trouble, performs and interprets necessary tests, and, where appropriate, issues trouble tickets which initiate dispatch of repair crews. The repair function is the first time that humans need to be involved! TCAF is written in ART-IM, TCL and C, and runs on IBM RS-6000 workstations