An On-Line Interactive Microcomputer-Based Parameter Optimization Technique

A general on-line parameter optimization technique is discussed. It consists of employing, in an interactive fashion, a microcomputer-based system to both drive and sample the output of a physical system in which some parameter is being varied. The microcomputer is then used to calculate and output an appropriate performance index, thereby directing the manner in which the parameter is varied, ultimately resulting in the determination of the parameter value that optimizes the performance index. Advantages of such an approach, made practical by the advent of low cost microcomputer systems, include its conceptual simplicity, the fact that mathematical models of the physical system are unnecessary, and the applicability of the approach in a manufacturing environment. To demonstrate the technique, a sample microcomputer-based system implemented by the authors is discussed along with an example in which a parameter (resistor value) in an electrical circuit is successfully optimized.