Symbolic diagnosis and its formalisation

Diagnosis was among the first subjects investigated when digital computers became available. It still remains an important research area, in which several new developments have taken place in the last decade. One of these new developments is the use of detailed domain models in knowledge-based systems for the purpose of diagnosis, often referred to as "model-based" diagnosis. Typically, such models embody knowledge of the normal or abnormal structure and behaviour of the modelled objects in a domain. Models of the structure and workings of technical devices, and causal models of disease processes in medicine are two examples. In this article, the most important notions of diagnosis and their formalisation are reviewed and brought in perspective. In addition, attention is focused on a number of general frameworks of diagnosis, which offer sufficient flexibility for expressing several types of diagnosis.