Connectionist representations and control structures

Focuses on the use of adaptive connectionist networks for identification and control of nonlinear dynamic systems. Control problems are usually solved using information about the controlled system and a series of procedures to reach the desired control goal. From this point of view it is possible to decompose the control problem into two sub-problems: (1) a representation problem dealing with the way in which the information and dynamics of the system will be represented; and (2) a structural problem which concerns the definition of the architecture and the procedures which use the information on the system in order to reach the desired control goal. The connectionist approach has great potential for control applications since it addresses both problems, providing system representations and control procedures. The authors outline their work in both these areas