The Pilot´s Associate: a forum for the integration of knowledge-based systems and avionics

The background and early development of the Pilot´s Associate program are outlined. The program has as its goal the exploitation of new computing technologies, such as knowledge-based systems, parallel processing architectures, and speech systems. The program is intended to demonstrate and evaluate the potential benefits of the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into avionics systems for the purpose of enhancing the mission effectiveness of future manned combat aircraft. The control and communications approach is presented along with progress and lessons learned in the early prototyping stages