Expert systems, fuzzy logic and rule-based control explained at last

Abstract

New techniques are becoming available to control and manage manufacturing plant, including rule-based systems, knowledge-based systems, fuzzy logic, etc. This paper will describe briefly what the terms mean and how they interrelate. It is argued that expert, rule-based systems for control differ fundamentally from traditional control systems because they attempt to model the skills of the human operator, rather than modelling the process itself Expert systems and intelligent knowledge-based systems will be introduced, explaining how they may be used in industrial control, for other complex tasks. The problem of knowledge acquisition is discussed, again in the context of control, and the role of fuzzy logic is explained, as a means of expressing necessarily imprecise knowledge and coping with the problems of an incomplete knowledge-base. The self-organising controller is briefly introduced as an enhancement of rule-based control The scope of rule-based control and artificial intelligence in general is discussed briefly. Existing and possible applications of the techniques are indicated, together with what their limitations likely to be.