Gate array selection advisor system

An advisor system which is designed to assist a gate array novice to identify the appropriate parameters for selection and to rank the gate array products accordingly is presented. The system will rank the gate arrays, included in the knowledge files, in order of certainty factor based on the user´s requirement, circuit specifications, and the vendor´s capabilities. The system draws conclusions through interactive dialogue with the user. However, it also automatically generates necessary parameters from the circuit description itself. The inference process is constructed on an expert system development tool called S1. Universal standards are used as much as possible. Common practices and definitions are adopted in defining many parameters such as gate delay, gate size, etc. In order that the system can be expanded and fine-tuned, the knowledge base of product lines and many evaluation functions are external to the S1 core. The decision flow closely follows the practices of experienced gate array designers