PREFACE
In 1982, when I obtained my Ph.D. specializing in adaptive control (the nonfuzzy kind), fuzzy control had not been explored to a very great extent as a research area. There had been only a handful of papers (probably <100) published on the subject up to that time, and some of us “serious researchers” did not take fuzzy seriously as a control method. Since then, of course, the number of papers and books written on some application of fuzzy sytstems has grown to tens of thousands, and many of us “serious researchers,” after realizing the potential of the fuzzy approach, have partially or completely redirected our research efforts to some aspect or application of fuzzy identification, classification, or control.
Roughly 10 years after graduating, I started reading anything I could find on the subjects of fuzzy identification and control, culminating in the creation of a graduate-level course on the subject at the University of Louisville. This book is an outgrowth of lectures I presented in this course over the past 10 years, plus some new material that I have not presented yet, but probably will at some point.
I wrote this book to present an introductory-level exposure to two of the principal uses for fuzzy logic: identification and control. This book was written to include topics that I deem important to the subject, but that I could not find all together in any one text. I kept finding myself borrowing material from several sources to teach my course, which is suboptimal ...
