Embedded Type-2 FLC for Real-Time Speed Control of Marine and Traction Diesel Engines

Marine propulsion and traction diesel engines operate in highly dynamic and uncertain environments. The current speed controllers for marine/traction diesel engines are based on PID and type-1 fuzzy logic controllers (FLCs) which cannot fully handle the uncertainties associated with such dynamic environments. Type-2 FLCs can handle such uncertainties to produce a better control performance. However, type-2 FLCs have a computational overhead associated with the iterative type-reduction process which can reduce the FLC real-time performance, especially when operating on industrial embedded controllers which have limited computational and memory capabilities. In this paper, we introduce a real-time type-2 FLC that is suited for embedded controllers operating in marine/traction diesel engines. We have conducted numerous experiments where the embedded type-2 FLCs dealt with the uncertainties in real-time and displayed a robust control response that outperformed the PID and type-1 FLCs whilst using smaller rule bases