A decision support system to control the aeration of sponge finger batters

A pilot decision support system was developed on the basis of knowledge extraction and formalization, to help the operators to control the aeration of sponge finger batters. This system reproduces the operator’s control strategies by integrating the product’s sensory properties and by taking into account various operations of the entire process, which influence product quality. The system inputs are 10 sensory measurements and 4 instrumental measurements used by the operators on the production line to characterize the batter and the sponge fingers. Sensory measurements were previously formalized using the “sensory indicators” formalism. The system outputs are the appropriate corrective actions. These actions are selected with a set of 47 “if–then” type rules which represent the formalization of the strategies developed by operators for the feedback control of aeration. The system was implemented with CLIPS, an expert systems shell, and was evaluated by comparing its outputs to the corrective actions proposed by an expert operator. Matching was obtained in 21 cases out of the 27 tested.