Structured knowledge manipulation system for real-time engineering applications

A structured knowledge manipulation system (SKMS), which incorporates a relational processing unit based on a structured knowledge representation, providing real-time relational accesses of a knowledge base, is described. Direct hardware support is provided for set operations and ´between bounds´ matching. Additionally, ´garbage collection´ is performed concurrently, with no memory overheads and very little speed penalty. Experimental results and projected performance figures are presented, which demonstrate the suitability of the SKMS approach for real-time applications.