WHERE DID FUZZY LOGIC COME FROM?
The concept of Fuzzy Logic (FL) was conceived by Lotfi Zadeh, a professor at the University of California at Berkley, and presented not as a control methodology, but as a way of processing data by allowing partial set membership rather than crisp set membership or non-membership. This approach to set theory was not applied to control systems until the 70's due to insufficient small-computer capability prior to that time. Professor Zadeh reasoned that people do not require precise, numerical information input, and yet they are capable of highly adaptive control. If feedback controllers could be programmed to accept noisy, imprecise input, they would be much more effective and perhaps easier to implement. Unfortunately, U.S. manufacturers have not been so quick to embrace this technology while the Europeans and Japanese have been aggressively building real products around it.
WHAT IS FUZZY LOGIC?
In this context, FL is a problem-solving control system methodology that lends itself to implementation in systems ranging from simple, small, embedded micro-controllers to large, networked, multi-channel PC or workstation-based data acquisition and control systems. It can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both. FL provides a simple way to arrive at a definite conclusion based upon vague, ambiguous, imprecise, noisy, or missing input information. FL's approach to control problems mimics how a person would make decisions, only much faster.
HOW IS FL DIFFERENT FROM CONVENTIONAL CONTROL METHODS?
FL incorporates a simple, rule-based IF X AND Y THEN Z approach to a solving control problem rather than attempting to model a system mathematically. The FL model is empirically-based, relying on an operator's experience rather than their technical understanding of the system. For example, rather than dealing with temperature control in terms such as "SP =500F", "T <1000F", or "210C
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