This paper gives a formal model for blackboard systems that provides a consistent method for describing a blackboard system. The formal model describes the basic components of a blackboard system and how the components interact. A set of blackboard system design tools has been developed and validated for implementing systems that are expressed using the formal model. The tools are used to test and refine a proposed blackboard system design before the design is implemented. The set of blackboard system design tools consists of a knowledge source organizer, a knowledge source input/output connectivity analyzer, a validated blackboard system simulation model, and a blackboard system code generator. The lack of design and analysis tools has hindered the full realization of the concurrency inherent in the blackboard problem-solving model. Use of a centralized control mechanism and knowledge source contention in accessing the blackboard have restricted the concurrency possible in previous systems. Using the design, simulation, and analysis tools, a fast, efficient, and powerful concurrent object-oriented blackboard system has been developed.
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