Knowledge-based time-critical dynamic decision modelling

Recent interests in dynamic decision modelling have led to the development of several representation and inference methods. These methods however, have limited application under time-critical conditions where a trade-off between model quality and computational tractability is essential. This paper presents a knowledge-based approach to time-critical dynamic decision modelling. A knowledge representation and modelling method, called the time-critical dynamic influence diagram, is proposed. The proposed approach has the ability to represent space–temporal abstraction in dynamic decision models. Several algorithms from different classes for solving time-critical dynamic influence diagrams are described. A knowledge-based meta-reasoning approach is proposed for the purpose of selecting the best abstracted model and algorithm that provide the optimal trade-off between model quality and model tractability. The approach is applied to solve a time-critical medical decision problem. An outline of the knowledge-based model construction procedure is also provided.