Science, engineering, and manufacturing all depend on accurate measurements. These measurements can be made either by a human or by an automated system. In both NDE and materials characterization, there are numerous evaluations and decisions which must be made based on the experience and judgment of an operator or engineer. Current automated systems are not capable of making these judgments. Instead, typically, the operator or engineer evaluates the results after the measurements have been made. Expert systems provide a method for building the expertise of the human into the measurement apparatus, thereby causing all decisions made during the measurement process to be made with the skill of expert operators.