Expert system technology is receiving increasing popularityand acceptance in the engineering community. This is due tothe fact that there actually exists a close match betweenthe capabilities of the current generation expert systemsand the requirements of engineering practice. Prepared by adistinguished team of experts, this book provides a balancedstate-of-the-art presentation of the design principles ofengineering expert systems, and a representative picture oftheir capabilities to assist efficiently the design,diagnosis and operation of complex industrial plants.Among the application areas covered are the following:hardware synthesis, industrial plant layout design, faultdiagnosis, process control, image analysis, computercommunication, electric power systems, intelligent control,robotics, and manufacturing systems. The book is appropriatefor the researcher and the professional. The researcher cansave considerable time in searching the scattered technicalinformation on engineering expert systems. The professionalcan have readily available a rich set of guidelines andtechniques that are applicable to a wide class ofengineering domains.