Equipment simulation for language understanding.

In this article the task of analyzing reports regarding the failure, diagnosis, and repair of equipment is considered. The authors show that a general knowledge of equipment is not sufficient for a full understanding of such reports. As an alternative, a system is described; PROTEUS; that relies on a detailed simulation model to support language understanding. The authors describe the structure of the model and emphasize features specifically required for language understanding. They show how this model can be used in analyzing and determining the referents for complex noun phrases. They point out the importance of identifying the implicit temporal and causal relations in the text, and show the simulation capabilities of the model support this task. Finally, the authors indicate how PROTEUS may be extended to facilitate the entry of new equipment models and to assist in equipment diagnosis.