Rule-based real-time implementation of nonlinear self-synthesizing control systems

The author describes the implementation of advanced nonlinear control systems by combining recent advances in nonlinear control system synthesis with a rule-based system approach to real-time control. The basic idea is that a nonlinear plant to be controlled could be quite sensitive to both operating point and input amplitude, so that the best control system performance is obtained with a nonlinear controller that is returned or resynthesized whenever the operating point changes significantly in the sense that the nonlinear control system input/output behavior changes substantially in an undesirable way. The control system thus obtained is hierarchically organized, with a standard reprogrammable controller under the direction of a rule-based system