An overview of research in the areas of aerospace applications of artificial intelligence, expert Systems, neural networks and robotics is presented. Challenges associated with aerospace projects require increasingly complex aerospace Systems which in turn demand automation and fault tolerance. We have addressed these issues and provided a survey of the research on intelligent Systems that has been carried out in an attempt to meet these challenges. The application areas we have overviewed include fault monitoring and diagnosis, generation and management of power in space, efficient and effective command and control, operations and maintenance of space stations, planning and scheduling, automation, and cockpit management.

Mechanical engineering design is a broad subject area covering many topics and bas influences upon many other engineering disciplines and activities. Computer support for mechanical engineering design activity has been in draughting Systems and analysis packages, but there has been little in conceptual design assistance. This paper presents a number of areas of work in which AI techniques and developments are being used, sometimes in conjunction with traditional methods, to improve the support of design. The approaches to design and design Systems are covered, along with some techniques that are used. Specifie design Systems illustrate progress, and integration issues and simultaneous engineering Systems indicate the way research is moving. Finally, discussion of the trends and future topics indicates where and how effort may be applied in the future.

Decision-making is an integral part of any consideration of the discipline of control Systems. This implies feedback of knowledge in some format, whether it is mediated via human or machineoriented methods. The application of AI methodologies to control Systems engineering is described in this review under two broad categories of design and implementation. The design of control strategies is itself divided into phases of modelling and simulation, identification, and algorithm selection and tuning. The aspects of implementation which are covered include real-time considerations such as knowledge-based control and fuzzy logic, multi-sensor data fusion, fault detection and Human–Computer Interaction (HCI).