While the knowledge-base contains a large amount of useful information, much of it may not be
applicable to a user’s given specific design and set of goals. Within the expert system framework, a
customized knowledge-base is created each time a user initiates a new project. This customized
database is produced using relevant information about the user’s design such as the user’s specific
goal time periods and applicable zones within the user’s original model. Applicable zones are
determined based on the position of the goal sensor planes within the input model geometry: a sensor
plane located within a distance of 1 time the ceiling height is considered peripheral to the closest wall;
a sensor plane between 1 and 2 times the ceiling height from a given wall is considered a core zone;
and a sensor plane located deeper than 2 times the ceiling height from a wall is considered a deep zone. For sensor planes which encompass multiple zones, the average value of relevant zone effects is calculated.