Control Systems

1. Control Systems Complex, Dynamic Interactions

2. Control System as Model Any control system involves an internal model of the world, from the simple heating thermostat to the admiral’s control of a battle fleet. The thermostat assumes a stable context, but as the system context becomes increasingly dynamic, at some point the internal model needs to become autonomous - able to modify its own structure to track its environment as the “world” changes around it.

3. Building a Control System We build an internal model of the world, so we can predict future behavior - we make the model out of structure so we can combine it with other structure

4. A Dynamic System Jamming Missile RFG The ship detects a threat - it has seconds to assemble and resolve a knowledge model of the particular situation Decoys Resources

5. The ship has properties: Detection means Layers of protection Acting in concert with group Logistics Mission length Battle tactics Memory of training It needs a complex and dynamic model

6. What’s Needed • What does a complex control system encompass: • Analysis & Experience • Strategy and tactics • Rapid construction and evaluation of scenarios • Learning from activation • New elements to be added ‘ad hoc’ • Human interface This doesn’t sound like an algorithm

7. Autonomous Elements It may seem laughable to talk about a complex control system in terms of a PLUS operator, but that is precisely the point. If we make the PLUS operator autonomous - it responds to changes in the states of its connections, and can tolerate its connections changing - then the control system built from such elements will also be autonomous - requiring no algorithm.