Some nonlinear control techniques novel to control engineers employed by a biological control system

The nervous control of heart rate in man was studied through dynamic analysis of experimental results and computer simulation. The heart rate changes caused by respiration were found to be accurately analyzable and predictable, as related by a fifth-order nonlinear differential equation which proved to have specific physiological meaning. The nonlinear characteristics of the equations are interesting in that they also show how neural controls can produce certain dynamic characteristics not normally encountered in control engineering practice. This paper is to be published in the Proceedings of the First IFAC Moscow Congress by Butterworth Scientific Publications in 1960.