Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Control methodology][Fuzzy logic'

In an era where use and dependence of information systems is significantly high, the threat of incidents related to information security that could jeopardize the information held by organizations is more and more serious. Alarming facts within the literature point to inadequacies in information security practices, particularly the evaluation of information security controls in organizations. Research efforts have resulted in various methodologies developed to deal with the information security controls assessment problem. A closer look at these traditional methodologies highlights various weaknesses that can prevent an effective information security controls assessment in organizations. This dissertation develops a methodology that addresses such weaknesses when evaluating information security controls in organizations. The methodology, created using the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox of MATLAB based on fuzzy theory and fuzzy logic, uses fuzzy set theory which allows for a more accurate assessment of imprecise criteria than traditional methodologies. It is argued and evidenced that evaluating information security controls using fuzzy set theory addresses existing weaknesses found in the literature for traditional evaluation methodologies and, thus, leads to a more thorough and precise assessment. This, in turn, results in a more effective selection of information security controls and enhanced information security in organizations. The main contribution of this research to the information security literature is the development of a fuzzy set theory-based assessment methodology that provides for a thorough evaluation of ISC in organizations. The methodology just created addresses the weaknesses or limitations identified in existing information security control assessment methodologies, resulting in an enhanced information security in organizations. The methodology can also be implemented in a spreadsheet or software tool, and promote usage in practical scenarios where highly complex methodologies for ISC selection are impractical. Moreover, the methodology fuses multiple evaluation criteria to provide a holistic view of the overall quality of information security controls, and it is easily extended to include additional evaluation criteria factor not considered within this dissertation. This is one of the most meaningful contributions from this dissertation. Finally, the methodology provides a mechanism to evaluate the quality of information security controls in various domains. Overall, the methodology presented in this dissertation proved to be a feasible technique for evaluating information security controls in organizations.

The friction surfacing process is a derivative of friction welding and retains all the benefits of that welding process - solid phase, forged microstructures and excellent metallurgical bonds. This work is aimed at the development of mathematical and statistical models for the optimisation of the significant process parameters in order to allow rapid development of new applications using standard CNC equipment. Also the possibility of implementing real-time control systems have been investigated and developed. A friction surfacing database has been configured to allow continuos recording and storage of the useful machine outputs. Later, an infrared pyrometer and thermocouples have also been connected to the data acquisition set-up establishing fully automated information flow from the process. A conversion procedure has been developed to ensure that the experimental results are applicable in industrial environments. Response surface map and the method of visual optimisation have been developed. They are an essential part of the methodology for experimental optimisation of the friction surfacing process. The problem of modelling and optimisation has also been approached using accurate statistical methods. Artificial intelligence in the form of neural networks has been used to improve the accuracy of the derived friction surfacing analytical relationships. For the first time dynamic study of the process has been carried out and CARIMA models have been derived using a modified version of the recursive least squares, to ensure high sensitivity and stability of the identification procedure. New conversion technique has been developed, allowing the use of existing models for materials that have not been used for friction surfacing before, reducing significantly the number of experiments. The idea of using indicator parameters has been introduced for the first time in this research. Such parameters are the force, the torque and the interface temperature and they can be measured on-line. It has been shown that variations of these parameters reflect in the quality of the coating characteristics that cannot be measured on-line. Real-time control has also been considered. An algorithm involving fuzzy logic and self-tuning extremum controller has been developed to continuously monitor and compensate in real-time against the variations in the coating characteristics, and respectively in the indicator parameters. The proposed methodology has been used to design a control system that is capable of maintaining optimal process characteristics. The value of this work is also in reducing the lead-time and hence the cost for determining the optimum parameters for a given coating material on a given substrate geometry. This is an important feature when developing new applications for the friction surfacing process. On the basis of this research a range of new commercial applications have emerged including the manufacture of machine knives for the food, pharmaceutical and packaging industries, repair of car engine valve seats, turbine blades, reclamation of shafts, etc.

This thesis examines the utility of fuzzy logic in the field of control engineering. A tutorial introduction to the field of fuzzy control is presented during the development of an efficient fuzzy controller. Using the controller as a starting point, a set of criteria are developed that ensure a close connection between rule base construction and control surface geometry. The properties of the controller are exploited in the design of a global controller optimiser based on a genetic algorithm, and a tutorial explaining how the optimiser may be used to effect automatic controller design is given. A library of software that implements a fast fuzzy controller, a genetic algorithm, and various utility routines is included.

In order to achieve energy savings for belt conveyor system, speed control provides one of the best solutions. Most of the traditional belt conveyors used in the industries are based on constant speed for all operational times. Due to the need and advancements in technology, Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) are employed in industries for a number of processes. Passive Speed Control was previously suggested for the proper utilization of VFD to make belt conveyor systems more power e- cient with increased life expectancy and reduced environmental eects including the noise reduction caused by constant speed of operation. Due to certain conditions and nature of operation of belt conveyor systems, it is not desirable to use Passive Speed control where feeding rate is random. Due to the extreme non-linearity of the random feeding rate, an Active speed control for VFD is desired which adjusts belt speed according to the material loading. In this thesis an Active Speed control for VFD is proposed that can achieve energy and cost ecient solutions for belt conveyor systems as well as avoiding half-lled belt operations. The aim of this thesis work is primarily to determine reliability and validity of Active Speed Control in terms of power savings. Besides achieving power savings, it is also necessary to check the economic feasibility. A detailed study is performed on the feasibility of Active Speed Control for random feeding rate according to industrial requirements. Due to the random and non-linearity of the material loading on the belt conveyor systems, a fuzzy logic algorithm is developed using the DIN 22101 model. The developed model achieves Active Speed Control based on the feeding rate and thereby optimizes the belt speed as required. This model also overcomes the risks of material spillage, overloading and sudden jerks caused due to unpredicted rise and fall during loading. The model conserves 20- 23% of the total power utilized compared to the conventional conveyor systems in use. However it is noticed that the peak power of conventional conveyor belt systems is up to 16% less compared to the proposed model. If implemented in dierent industries, based on the operational time and total consumption of electricity, the proposed Active speed control system is expected to achieve economic savings up to 10-12 % .

This thesis presents the results of an investigation of the robustness of the widely used Mandani-type fuzzy logic control systems under a wide variation of parameters of the controlled process. The measurements of the dynamic performance and system robustness of a control system were firstly defined from the engineering point of view, and the concepts of the robust space and the robustness index were introduced. The robustness of the FLC systems was investigated by analyzing the structure of the fuzzy rule base and membership functions of the input-output variables. Based on the close relation of the fuzzy rule base and the system dynamic trajectory on the phase plane, a switching line method is introduced to qualitatively analyze the dynamic performance of the SISO FLC systems. This switching line method enables the qualitative prediction of the shape and position of the robust space of the FLC controlled first order processes and second order processes. The effects of FLC parameters on system robustness were also investigated. The movements of the position and the shape of the switching line with the variation of the controller parameters were analyzed, and its relation with the system performance was reported. Three methods were proposed to improve the robustness of the FLC system. The first design method proposed was based on the switching line characteristics of the FLC system. The second method, called phase advanced FLC, was introduced to handle the control of high order processes with fuzzy algorithms. The third method was an evolutionary method based on the genetic algorithm which was used to automatically design a robust fuzzy control system, assuming the availability of the controlled process model.

Two fuzzy controllers are presented. A fuzzy controller with intermediate variable designed for cascade control purposes is presented as the FCIV controller. An intermediate variable and a new set of fuzzy logic rules are added to a conventional Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) to build the Fuzzy Controller with Intermediate Variable (FCIV). The new controller was tested in the control of a nonlinear chemical process, and its performance was compared to several other controllers. The FCIV shows the best control performance regarding stability and robustness. The new controller also has an acceptable performance when noise is added to the sensor signal. An optimization program has been used to determine the optimum tuning parameters for all controllers to control a chemical process. This program allows obtaining the tuning parameters for a minimum IAE (Integral absolute of the error). The second controller presented uses fuzzy logic to improve the performance of the convention al internal model controller (IMC). This controller is called FAIMCr (Fuzzy Adaptive Internal Model Controller). Twofuzzy modules plus a filter tuning equation are added to the conventional IMC to achieve the objective. The first fuzzy module, the IMCFAM, determines the process parameters changes. The second fuzzy module, the IMCFF, provides stability to the control system, and a tuning equation is developed for the filter time constant based on the process parameters. The results show the FAIMCr providing a robust response and overcoming stability problems. Adding noise to the sensor signal does not affect the performance of the FAIMC.The contributions presented in this work include:The development of a fuzzy controller with intermediate variable for cascade control purposes. An adaptive model controller which uses fuzzy logic to predict the process parameters changes for the IMC controller. An IMC filter tuning equation to update the filter time constant based in the process paramete rs values. A variable fuzzy filter for the internal model controller (IMC) useful to provide stability to the control system.

Genetic algorithms are commonly used to solve combinatorial optimizationproblems. The implementation evolves using genetic operators (crossover, mutation,selection, etc.). Anyway, genetic algorithms like some other methods have parameters(population size, probabilities of crossover and mutation) which need to be tune orchosen.In this paper, our project is based on an existing hybrid genetic algorithmworking on the multiprocessor scheduling problem. We propose a hybrid Fuzzy-Genetic Algorithm (FLGA) approach to solve the multiprocessor scheduling problem.The algorithm consists in adding a fuzzy logic controller to control and tunedynamically different parameters (probabilities of crossover and mutation), in anattempt to improve the algorithm performance. For this purpose, we will design afuzzy logic controller based on fuzzy rules to control the probabilities of crossoverand mutation. Compared with the Standard Genetic Algorithm (SGA), the resultsclearly demonstrate that the FLGA method performs significantly better.

This dissertation presents a novel approach to combining wavelet networks and multi-layer feedforward network for fuzzy logic control systems. Most of the existing methods focus on implementing the Takagi-Sugano fuzzy reasoning model and have demonstrated its effectiveness. However, these methods fail to keep the knowledge structure, which is critical in interpreting the learning process and providing insights to the working mechanism of the underlying systems. It is our intention here to continue the previous research by the PARCS group in this area by utilizing individual subnets to implement decision-making process with the fuzzy logic control systems based on the Mamdani model. Center Average defuzzification has seen its implementation by a neural network so that a succinct network structure is obtained. More importantly, wavelet networks have been adopted to provide better locality capturing capability and therefore better performance in terms of learning speed and training time. Offline orthogonal least squares method is used for training the wavelet subnets and the overall systems is updated using the steepest descent algorithm. Simulation results have shown the efficacy of this new approach in applications including system modeling and time series prediction.

Significant progress has been made on maximising passive solar heating loads through the careful selection of glazing, orientation and internal mass within building spaces. Control of space heating in buildings of this type has become a complex problem. Additionally, and in common with most building control applications, there is a need to develop control solutions that permit simple and transparent set up and commissioning procedures. This work concerns the development and testing of an adaptive control method for space heating in buildings with significant solar input. A simulation model of a building space to assess the performance of different control strategies is developed. A lumped parameter model based on an optimisation technique has been proposed and validated. It is shown that this model gives an improvement over existing low order modelling methods. A detailed model of a hot water heating system and related control devices is developed and evaluated for the specific purpose of control simulation. A PI-based fuzzy logic controller is developed in which the error and change of error between the internal air temperature and the user set point temperature is used as the controller input. A conventional PD controller is also considered for comparison. The parameters of the controllers are set to values that result in the best performance under likely disturbances and changes in setpoint. In a further development of the fuzzy logic controller, the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) is used to control the indoor temperature of a space by setting it at a point where the PMV index becomes zero and the predicted percentage of persons dissatisfied (PPD) achieves a maximum threshold of 5%. The controller then adjusts the air temperature set point in order to satisfy the required comfort level given the prevailing values of other comfort variables contributing to the comfort sensation. The resulting controller is free of the set up and tuning problems that hinder conventional HVAC controllers. The need to develop an adaptive capability in the fuzzy logic controller to account for lagging influence of solar heat gain is established and a new adaptive controller has therefore been proposed. The development of a "quasi-adaptive" fuzzy logic controller is developed in two steps. A feedforward neural network is used to predict the internal air temperature, in which a singular value decomposition (SVD) algorithm is used to remove the highly correlated data from the inputs of the neural network to reduce the network structure. The fuzzy controller is then modified to have two inputs: the first input being the error between the setpoint temperature and the internal air temperature and the second the predicted future internal air temperature. When compared with a conventional method of control the proposed controller is shown to give good tracking of the setpoint temperature, reduced energy consumption and improved thermal comfort for the occupants by reducing solar overheating. The proposed controller is tested in real time using a test cell equipped with an oil- filled electric radiator, temperature and solar sensors. Experimental results confirm earlier findings arrived at by simulations, in that the proposed controller achieves superior tracking and reduces afternoon solar overheating, when compared with a conventional method of control.

Turbo gas compressors are among the most used machines ever invented. In the process industry, they are used intensively to provide compressed air for all types of pneumatic instruments and tools. These compressors suffer from an instability known as surge which usually occurs at low flow rates. The flow becomes seriously unstable and sometimes reverses. Surge has been a major problem for designers and users since the invention of the turbo-compressor. Although many successful echniques have been proposed to tackle the surge problem, most of them seem to offer to control at a single operating point or when nonlinear control is used the aethod tends to be seriously complex. The area remains very challenging for control engineers because of the non-linear nature of the phenomena and the complexity of the machine itself.

This thesis describes the fuzzy logic based control system for an automated guided vehicle ( AGV ) designed to navigate from one position and orientation to another while avoiding obstacles. A vehicle with an onboard computer system and a beacon based location system has been used to provide experimental confirmation of the methods proposed during this research. A simulation package has been written and used to test control techniques designed for the vehicle. A series of navigation rules based upon the vehicle's current position relative to its goal produce a fuzzy fit vector, the entries in which represent the relative importance of sets defined over all the possible output steering angles. This fuzzy fit vector is operated on by a new technique called rule spreading which ensures that all possible outputs have some activation. An obstacle avoidance controller operates from information about obstacles near to the vehicle. A method has been devised for generating obstacle avoidance sets depending on the size, shape and steering mechanism of a vehicle to enable their definition to accurately reflect the geometry and dynamic performance of the vehicle. Using a set of inhibitive rules the obstacle avoidance system compiles a mask vector which indicates the potential for a collision if each one of the possible output sets is chosen. The fuzzy fit vector is multiplied with the mask vector to produce a combined fit vector representing the relative importance of the output sets considering the demands of both navigation and obstacle avoidance. This is operated on by a newly developed windowing technique which prevents any conflicts produced by this combination leading to an undesirable output. The final fit vector is then defuzzified to give a demand steering angle for the vehicle. A separate fuzzy controller produces a demand velocity. In tests carried out in simulation and on the research vehicle it has been shown that the control system provides a successful guidance and obstacle avoidance scheme for an automated vehicle.

FUNDAÇÃO DE APOIO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DO RIO DE JANEIRO
Este trabalho apresenta a utilização de lógica fuzzy e de redes neurais no desenvolvimento de um controlador de semáforos - o FUNNCON. O trabalho realizado consiste em quatro etapas principais: estudo dos fundamentos de engenharia de tráfego; definição de uma metodologia para a avaliação de cruzamentos sinalizados; definição do modelo do controlador proposto; e implementação com dados reais em um estudo de caso.O estudo sobre os fundamentos de engenharia de tráfego aborda a definição de termos,os parâmetros utilizados na descrição dos fluxos de tráfego, os tipos de cruzamentos e seus semáforos, os sistemas de controle de tráfego mais utilizados e as diversas medidas de desempenho.Para se efetuar a análise dos resultados do FUNNCON, é definida uma metodologia para a avaliação de controladores. Apresenta-se, também, uma investigação sobre simuladores de tráfego existentes, de modo a permitir a escolha do mais adequado para o presente estudo. A definição do modelo do FUNNCON compreende uma descrição geral dos diversos módulos que o compõem. Em seguida, cada um destes módulos é estudado separadamente: o uso de redes neurais para a predição de tráfego futuro; a elaboração de um banco de cenários ótimos através de um otimizador; e a criação de regras fuzzy a partir deste banco.No estudo de caso, o FUNNCON é implementado com dados reais fornecidos pela CET-Rio em um cruzamento do Rio de Janeiro e comparado com o controlador existente.É constatado que redes neurais são capazes de fornecer bons resultados na predição do tráfego futuro. Também pode ser observado que as regras fuzzy criadas a partir do banco de cenários ótimos proporcionam um controle efetivo do tráfego no cruzamento estudado. Uma comparação entre o desempenho do FUNNCON e o do sistema atualmente em operação é amplamente favorável ao primeiro.
This work presents the use of fuzzy logic and neural networks in the development of a traffic signal controller - FUNNCON. The work consists of four main sections: study of traffic engineering fundamentals; definition of a methodology for evaluation of traffic controls; definition of the proposed controller model; and implementation on a case study using real data.The study of traffic engineering fundamentals considers definitions of terms,parameters used for traffic flow description, types of intersections and their traffic signals,commonly used traffic control systems and performance measures.In order to analyse the results provided by FUNNCON, a methodology for the evaluation of controllers is defined. The existing traffic simulators are investigated, in order to select the best one for the present study.The definition of the FUNNCON model includes a brief description of its modules.Thereafter each module is studied separately: the use of neural networks for future traffic prediction; the setup of a best scenario database using an optimizer; and the extraction of fuzzy rules from this database.In the case study, FUNNCON is implemented with real data supplied by CET-Rio from an intersection in Rio de Janeiro; its performance is compared with that of the existing controller.It can be observed that neural networks can present good results in the prediction of future traffic and that the fuzzy rules created from the best scenario database lead to an effective traffic control at the considered intersection. When compared with the system in operation, FUNNCON reveals itself much superior.

Currently small vessels use autopilots based on the Proportional plus Integral plus Derivative (PID) algorithm which utilises fixed gain values. This type of autopilot is known to often cause performance difficulties, a survey is therefore carried out to identify the alternative autopilot methods that have been previously investigated. It is shown that to date, all published work in this area has been based on large ships, however, there are specific difficulties applicable to the small vessel which have therefore not been considered. After the recognition of artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic as being the two most suitable techniques for use in the development of a new, and adaptive, small vessel autopilot design, the basic concepts of both are reviewed and fiizzy logic identified as being the most suitable for this application. The remainder of the work herein is concerned with the development of a fuzzy logic controller capable of a high level of performance in the two modes of coursekeeping and course-changing. Both modes are integrated together by the use of nonlinear fuzzy input windows. Improved performance is then obtained by using a nonlinear fuzzy rulebase. Integral action is included by converting the fuzzy output window to an unorthodox design described by two hundred and one fuzzy singletons, and then by shifting the identified fuzzy sets to positive, or negative, in order that any steady-state error may be removed from the vessel's performance. This design generated significant performance advantages when compared to the conventional PID autopilot. To develop further into an adaptive form of autopilot called the self-organising controller, the single rulebase was replaced by two enhancement matrices. These are novel features which are modified on-line by two corresponding performance indices. The magnitude of the learning was related to the observed performance of the vessel when expressed in terms of its heading error and rate of change of heading error. The autopilot design is validated using both simulation, and full scale sea trials. From these tests it is demonstrated that when compared to the conventional PID controller, the self-organising controller significantly improved performance for both course-changing and course-keeping modes of operation. In addition, it has the capability to learn on-line and therefore to maintain performance when subjected to vessel dynamic or environmental disturbance alterations.

In recent years, teleoperation has shown great potentials in different fields such as spatial, mining, under-water, etc. When teleoperation is required to be bilateral, the time delay induced by a potentially large physical distance prevents a good performance of the controller, especially in case of contact. When bilateral teleoperation is introduced to the field of medicine, a new challenge arises: the controller needs to be used in both hard and soft environments. For example, in the context of telesurgery, the robot can enter in contact with both bone (hard) and organ (soft). In an attempt to enrich existing controller designs to better suit the medical needs, an adaptive fuzzy logic controller is designed in this text. It simulates human intelligence and adapts the controller to environments of different stiffness coefficients. It is compared to three other classical controllers used in the field of bilateral teleopeartion and demonstrates very interesting potential.

Doutoramento em Engenharia Eletrotécnica
A última fronteira da Inteligência Artificial será o desenvolvimento de um sistema computacional autónomo capaz de "rivalizar" com a capacidade de aprendizagem e de entendimento humana. Ainda que tal objetivo não tenha sido até hoje atingido, da sua demanda resultam importantes contribuições para o estado-da-arte tecnológico atual. A Lógica Difusa é uma delas que, influenciada pelos princípios fundamentais da lógica proposicional do raciocínio humano, está na base de alguns dos sistemas computacionais "inteligentes" mais usados da atualidade. A teoria da Lógica Difusa é uma ferramenta fundamental na suplantação de algumas das limitações inerentes à representação de informação incerta em sistemas computacionais. No entanto esta apresenta ainda algumas lacunas, pelo que diversos melhoramentos à teoria original têm sido introduzidos ao longo dos anos, sendo a Lógica Difusa de Tipo-2 uma das mais recentes propostas. Os novos graus de liberdade introduzidos por esta teoria têm-se demonstrado vantajosos, particularmente em aplicações de modelação de sistemas não-lineares complexos. Uma das principais vantagens prende-se com o aumento da robustez dos modelos assim desenvolvidos comparativamente àqueles baseados nos princípios da Lógica Difusa de Tipo-1 sem implicar necessariamente um aumento da sua dimensão. Tal propriedade é particularmente vantajosa considerando que muitas vezes estes modelos são utilizados como suporte ao desenvolvimento de sistemas de controlo que deverão ser capazes de assegurar o comportamento ótimo de um processo em condições de operação variáveis. No entanto, o estado-da-arte da teoria de controlo de sistemas baseada em modelos não tem integrado todos os melhoramentos proporcionados pelo desenvolvimento de modelos baseados nos princípios da Lógica Difusa de Tipo-2. Por essa razão, a presente tese propõe-se a abordar este tópico desenvolvendo uma metodologia de síntese de Controladores Preditivos baseados em modelos Takagi-Sugeno seguindo os princípios da Lógica Difusa de Tipo-2. De modo a cumprir este objetivo, quatro linhas de investigação serão debatidas neste trabalho.Primeiramente proceder-se-á ao desenvolvimento de uma metodologia de treino de Modelos Difusos de Tipo-2 simplificada, focada em dois paradigmas: manter a clareza dos intervalos de incerteza introduzidos sobre um Modelo Difuso de Tipo-1; assegurar a validade dos diversos modelos localmente lineares que constituem a estrutura Takagi- Sugeno, de modo a torná-los adequados a métodos de síntese de controladores baseados em modelos. O modelo desenvolvido é tipicamente utilizado para extrapolar o comportamento do sistema numa janela temporal futura. No entanto, quando usados em aproximações de sistemas não lineares, os modelos do tipo Takagi-Sugeno estabelecem um compromisso entre exatidão e complexidade computacional. Assim, é proposta a utilização dos princípios da Lógica Difusa de Tipo-2 para reduzir a influência dos erros de modelação nas estimações obtidas através do ajuste dos intervalos de incerteza dos parâmetros do modelo. Com base na estrutura Takagi-Sugeno, um método de linearização local de modelos não-lineares será utilizado em cada ponto de funcionamento do sistema de modo a obter os parâmetros necessários para a síntese de um controlador otimizado numa janela temporal futura de acordo com os princípios da teoria de Controlo Preditivo Generalizado - um dos algoritmos de Controlo Preditivo mais utilizado na indústria. A qualidade da resposta do sistema em malha fechada e a sua robustez a perturbações serão então comparadas com implementações do mesmo algoritmo baseadas em métodos de modelação mais simples. Para concluir, o controlador proposto será implementado num System-on-Chip baseado no core ARM Cortex-M4. Com o propósito de facilitar a realização de testes de implementação de algoritmos de controlo em sistemas embutidos, será apresentada também uma plataforma baseada numa arquitetura Processor-In-the-Loop, que permitirá avaliar a execução do algoritmo proposto em sistemas computacionais com recursos limitados, aferindo a existência de possíveis limitações antes da sua aplicação em cenários reais. A validade do novo método proposto é avaliada em dois cenários de simulação comummente utilizados em testes de sistemas de controlo não-lineares: no Controlo da Temperatura de uma Cuba de Fermentação e no Controlo do Nível de Líquidos num Sistema de Tanques Acoplados. É demonstrado que o algoritmo de controlo desenvolvido permite uma melhoria da performance dos processos supramencionados, particularmente em casos de mudança rápida dos regimes de funcionamento e na presença de perturbações ao processo não medidas.
The development of an autonomous system capable of matching human knowledge and learning capabilities embedded in a compact yet transparent way has been one of the most sought milestones of Artificial Intelligence since the invention of the first mechanical general purpose computers. Such accomplishment is yet to come but, in its pursuit, important contributions to the state-of-the-art of current technology have been made. Fuzzy Logic is one of such, supporting some of the most used frameworks for embedding human-like knowledge in computational systems. The theory of Fuzzy Logic overcame some of the difficulties that the inherent uncertainty in information representations poses to the development of computational systems. However, it does present some limitations so, aiming to further extend its capabilities, several improvements over its original formalization have been proposed over the years such as Type-2 Fuzzy Logic - one of its most recent advances. The additional degrees of freedom of Type-2 Fuzzy Logic are showing greater potential to supplant its original counterpart, especially in complex non-linear modeling tasks. One of its main outcomes is its capability of improving the developed model’s robustness without necessarily increasing its dimensionality comparatively to a Type-1 Fuzzy Model counterpart. Such feature is particularly advantageous if one considers these model as a support for developing control systems capable of maintaining a process’s optimal performance over changing operating conditions. However, state-of-the art model-based control theory does not seem to be taking full advantage of the improvements achieved with the development of Type-2 Fuzzy Logic based models. Therefore, this thesis proposes to address this problem by developing a Model Predictive Control system supported by Interval Type-2 Takagi- Sugeno Fuzzy Models. To accomplish this goal, four main research directions are covered in this work.Firstly, a simpler method for training a Type-2 Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model focused on two main paradigms is proposed: maintaining a meaningful interpretation of the uncertainty intervals embedded over an estimated Type-1 Fuzzy Model; ensuring the validity of several locally linear models that constitute the Takagi-Sugeno structure in order to make them suitable for model-based control approaches. Based on the developed model, a multi-step ahead estimation of the process behavior is extrapolated. However, as Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Models establish a trade-off between accuracy and computational complexity when used as a non-linear process approximation, it is proposed to apply the principles of Type-2 Fuzzy Logic to reduce the influence of modeling uncertainties on the obtained estimations by adjusting the model parameters’ uncertainty intervals. Supported by the developed Type-2 Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model, a locally linear approximation of each current operation point is used to obtain the optimal control law over a prediction horizon according to the principles of Generalized Predictive Control - one of the most used Model Predictive Control algorithms in Industry. The improvements in terms of closed loop tracking performance and robustness to unmodeled operation conditions are then assessed comparatively to Generalized Predictive Control implementations based on simpler modeling approaches. Ultimately, the proposed control system is implemented in a general purpose System-on-a-Chip based on a ARM Cortex-M4 core. A Processor-In-the-Loop testing framework, developed to support the implementation of control loops in embedded systems, is used to evaluate the algorithm’s turnaround time when executed in such computationally constrained platform, assessing its possible limitations before deployment in real application scenarios. The applicability of the new methods introduced in this thesis is illustrated in two simulated processes commonly used in non-linear control benchmarking: the Temperature Control of a Fermentation Reactor and the Liquid Level Control of a Coupled Tanks System. It is shown that the developed control system achieves an improved closed loop performance of the above mentioned processes, particularly in the cases of quick changes in the operation regime and in presence of unmeasured external disturbances.

Robot control systems can be considered complex systems, the design of a controller involving the determination of the dynamic model for the system. This in itself can be a complicated task due to non-linearities, multiple axis (degrees of freedom) control and the constantly changing working environment. Problems arise when the theoretical model produced for such a system is not accurate. When developing a controller using conventional techniques a design scheme has to be produced, usually based on a model of the system. In addition kinematics equations must be derived to take into account the physical boundaries of the system. The work outlined in this thesis utilises fuzzy logic control to address these control issues. Fuzzy logic provides functional capability without the use of a system model and has characteristics suitable for capturing the approximate, vaiying values found in real world systems. Initial development of a single axis fuzzy logic control system was implemented on a Dainichi industrial five-axis robot, replacing the existing control and hardware systems with a new developmental system. The concept of fuzzy logic and its application to control highlights the potential advantages that fuzzy logic control (PLC) can provide when compared to the more conventional control methodologies. Additional new control hardware has been interfaced to an existing robot manipulator, making it possible to compare PLC and PIDVF (Proportional Integral Derivative Velocity FeedforwardlFeedback) controllers for single axis development. Average response time and overshoot for a given set point were compared for each system. The results proved that, using a basic PLC minimal overshoot and fast rise times could be achieved in comparison to the commercial PIDVF system. Further research concentrated on the development of the control software to provide multiple axis control for an industrial robot using a continuous path algorithm. The more from single axis to multiple axis control provided a much more complex control problem. A novel and innovative process for the fuzzy controller was implemented with up to three axes reaching the target point simultaneously. Control of the industrial robot was investigated using methods that were more suited to real time controL The most significant change was a reduction in the number of fuzzy rules when compared to single axis control. During robot control no adaptation of the rule base or membership functions was carried Out Ofl line; only system gain was modified in relation to link speed and joint error within predetermined design parameters. The fuzzy control system had to manage the effects of frictional and gravitational forces whilst compensating for the varying inertia components when each linkage is moving. Testing based on ISO 9283 for path accuracy and repeatability verified that real time control of three axes was achievable with values of 938tm and 864tm recorded for accuracy and repeatability respectively. The development of novel industrial robot real time multi-axis fuzzy controller has combined new control hardware with an efficient fuzzy engine addressing inverse kinematics, scaling and dynamic forces in order to provide a viable robot control system.

The past few years have witnessed a rapid growth in the use of fuzzy logic controllers for the control of processes which are complex and ill-defined. These control systems, inspired by the approximate reasoning capabilities of humans under conditions of uncertainty and imprecision, consist of linguistic 'if-then' rules which depend on fuzzy set theory for representation and evaluation using computers. Even though the fuzzy rules can be built from purely heuristic knowledge such as a human operator's control strategy, a number of difficulties face the designer of such systems. For any reasonably complex chemical process, the number of rules required to ensure adequate control in all operating regions may be extremely large. Eliciting all of these rules and ensuring their consistency and completeness can be a daunting task. An alternative to modelling the operator's response is to model the process and then to incorporate the process model into some sort of model-based control scheme. The concept of Model Based Predictive Control (MB PC) has been heralded as one of the most significant control developments in recent years. It is now widely used in the chemical and petrochemical industry and it continues to attract a considerable amount of research. Its popularity can be attributed to its many remarkable features and its open methodology. The wide range of choice of model structures, prediction horizon and optimisation criteria allows the control designer to easily tailor MBPC to his application. Features sought from such controllers include better performance, ease of tuning, greater robustness, ability to handle process constraints, dead time compensation and the ability to control nonminimum phase and open loop unstable processes. The concept of MBPC is not restricted to single-input single-output (SISO) processes. Feedforward action can be introduced easily for compensation of measurable disturbances and the use of state-space model formulation allows the approach to be generalised easily to multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems. Although many different MBPC schemes have emerged, linear process models derived from input-output data are often used either explicitly to predict future process behaviour and/or implicitly to calculate the control action even though many chemical processes exhibit nonlinear process behaviour. It is well-recognised that the inherent nonlinearity of many chemical processes presents a challenging control problem, especially where quality and/or economic performance are important demands. In this thesis, MBPC is incorporated into a nonlinear fuzzy modelling framework. Even though a control algorithm based on a 1-step ahead predictive control strategy has initially been examined, subsequent studies focus on determining the optimal controller output using a long-range predictive control strategy. The fuzzy modelling method proposed by Takagi and Sugeno has been used throughout the thesis. This modelling method uses fuzzy inference to combine the outputs of a number of auto-regressive linear sub-models to construct an overall nonlinear process model. The method provides a more compact model (hence requiring less computations) than fuzzy modelling methods using relational arrays. It also provides an improvement in modelling accuracy and effectively overcomes the problems arising from incomplete models that characterise relational fuzzy models. Difficulties in using traditional cost function and optimisation techniques with fuzzy models have led other researchers to use numerical search techniques for determining the controller output. The emphasis in this thesis has been on computationally efficient analytically derived control algorithms. The performance of the proposed control system is examined using simulations of the liquid level in a tank, a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) system, a binary distillation column and a forced circulation evaporator system. The results demonstrate the ability of the proposed system to outperform more traditional control systems. The results also show that inspite of the greatly reduced computational requirement of our proposed controller, it is possible to equal or better the performance of some of the other fuzzy model based control systems that have been proposed in the literature. It is also shown in this thesis that the proposed control algorithm can be easily extended to address the requirements of time-varying processes and processes requiring compensation for disturbance inputs and dead times. The application of the control system to multivariable processes and the ability to incorporate explicit constraints in the optimisation process are also demonstrated.

This master's thesis aims to investigate how fuzzy logic can be used to adapt the tuning of a speed control law during certain conditions such as turbulence. The objective is to lower the speed overshoot caused by the auto-thrust function as well as the general engine agitation. The main modifications studied are direct lowering of the closed loop gains, hybridisation and filtering of the longitudinal acceleration estimation. Finally, saturations or limits on the control signal as well as on the coordination with the longitudinal control law are studied in order to cope with the possible consequences of a softer control law. To detect the turbulence, an already existing turbulence detector is used. In addition, a wind gradient detector is designed in order to increase the gain during such wind conditions to counter ramp errors. It is found that a general lowering of the closed loop gain in combination with a slow hybridisation, all proportional to the detected turbulence level, together with a limitation of the coordination gives a satisfactory result. In scenarios including severe turbulence and wind gradients, the forced limits are shown to be indispensable. A conclusion is drawn that the fuzzy tuning is better adapted to turbulent conditions but that the wind gradient detection and the forced limits must be studied further. It is also concluded that the coupling between the closed loop gain and the acceleration hybridisation can be interesting to investigate. Moreover, additional realistic scenarios should be simulated in order to further validate the design. For future studies on the subject; it is recommended that the controller tuning is validated with the help of expert knowledge. Alternatively, the tuning could be handled by an ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System). Finally the tuning of the controller should be validated for a wider range of flight points, most importantly the forced limits since the engine response varies a lot between different points in the flight envelope.

A method to adapt the Generalized Predictive Control parameters to improve broadband disturbance rejection was developed and tested. The effect of the parameters on disturbance rejection has previously been poorly understood and a trial and error method was used to achieve adequate results. This dissertation provides insight on the effect of the parameters, as well as an adaptive tuning method to adjust them. The study begins by showing the effect of the four GPC parameters, the control and prediction horizons, control weighting &lambda , and order, on the disturbance rejection and control effort of a vibrating plate. It is shown that the effect of increases in the control and prediction horizon becomes negligible after a certain point. This occurs at nearly the same point for a variety of &lambda 's and orders, and hence they can be eliminated from the tuning space. The control effort and closed-loop disturbance rejection are shown to be highly dependant on &lambda and order, thereby becoming the parameters that need to be tuned. The behavior is categorized into various groups and further investigated. The pole and zero locations of the closed-loop system are examined to reveal how GPC gains control and how it can fail for non-minimum phase plants. A set of fuzzy logic modules is developed to adapt &lambda with order fixed, and conversely to adapt order with &lambda fixed. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated in both numerical simulations and laboratory experiments.
Ph. D.