Plenary lecture III: Autonomous control systems in space

Summary form only given, as follows. One of the biggest challenges of any control paradigm is being able to handle complex systems under unforeseen uncertainties. A system may be called complex here if its dimension (order) is too high and its model (if available) is nonlinear, interconnected, and information on the system is uncertain such that classical techniques cannot easily handle the problem. Soft computing, a collection of fuzzy logic, neurocomputing, genetic algorithms and genetic programming, has proven to be a set of powerful tools for adding autonomy and semi-autonomy to many complex systems. For such systems the size of the soft computing control architecture will be nearly infinite. Examples of complex systems are power networks, space robotic colonies, national air traffic control system, an integrated manufacturing plant, Hubble Telescope, etc. In this presentation paradigms using soft computing approaches are utilized to illustrate designs of autonomous controllers for a number of space application. These applications are satellite array formations and robotic agents. A view of the hture activities of the NASA JPL for space exploration will also be given.