Traditional Application Areas
Modern commercial and military aircraft are “fly by wire.”
Autoland systems, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) are already in place
High accuracy positioning for flexible manufacturing.
Manipulation tasks are more difficult and still emerging.
Regulation of flow rates, temperature, concentration, etc.
Long time scales, but only crude models of process.
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
Basic thermostatic controls to building level systems.
Very distributed system with many local control loops.
Engine control, transmission control, cruise control, climate control, etc.
Luxury sedans: 12 control instruments in 1976, 42 in 1988, 67 in 1991.