Intelligent control systems: Principal concepts and definitions (Q1386972)

The theory of intelligent control has experienced a rapid growth in recent years. The number of practical and commercial applications of the results of this theory has risen to several hundreds. In spite of the already existing splash of publications devoted to the theoretical and applied aspects of this new scientific direction, no fixed terminology nor unanimous understanding of the essence of the processes taking place in such systems seem to exist. The aim of the paper is to present the principal concepts and definitions of intelligent control systems in a uniform way. Therefore, the main stages of evolution of models of automatic control and the methods of knowledge processing are first presented. These form the basis for developing control systems with improved dynamic characteristics and with capabilities for stable behavior under various conditions of uncertainty. The problems of terminology connected with specific features of the definitions and notions are also discussed.