WHIMS, A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEM FOR COTTON PEST-MANAGEMENT

The WHIMS application framework is a static, object-oriented model of the cotton ecosystem. Implemented in C++, it was designed to provide a framework for testing and applying ongoing research in agroecosystem modeling and decision making. It provides a set of reusable abstract object classes for building pest-management systems. Applications are built on the application framework by a process of specializing these abstract classes through inheritance, thereby creating concrete subclasses specific to the application. rbWHIMS, the initial product of the project, is a rule-based expert system containing 700 rules and covering nine pest-species groups. The expert system asks the user for field-sampling information, which is then stored in objects representing the corresponding components of the cotton ecosystem. The rule base then queries these objects to acquire the information needed to render decisions. The rule base is segmented along insect species groups and cotton plant growth stages. rbWHIMS was evaluated in the field in 1991. The WHIMS application framework provides the basis for the development, testing, and integration of improvements to the basic rbWHIMS design. Planned improvements include multiple-pest recommendations, uncertain inference, and the integration of simulation components into the WHIMS application framework model.