Generic control systems

Control is based on a broad spectrum of generic techniques which find application across an equally broad spectrum. The generic nature of feedback was recognised by Wiener in his seminal book (1948). Unfortunately, since that time, the subjects which were once united under the banner of cybernetics are now once more fragmented. This fragmentation has a number of manifestations: control is divided by application area, by subject area and into theory and practice. Although control has links with, and borrows tools from, computer and computing science it is largely separated from the computer science and AI communities. Feedback was, and is, a cornerstone of cybernetics, it turns up in many disciplines including the soft ones of economics and management science. The author states that control engineers should have an interest in the revival of cybernetics as a bridge between disciplines and so to give a wider field for their endeavours. The ubiquity of feedback implies the need for generic control systems