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Neuro-Fuzzy Control Based on the NEFCON-Model Under MATLAB/SIMULINK

Andreas Nürnberger, Detlef Nauck and Rudolf Kruse

Faculty of Computer Science, University of Magdeburg

Institute for Information and Communication Systems, Neural and Fuzzy Systems

Universitaetsplatz 2, D-39106 Magdeburg, Germany

Phone : +49.391.67.11358, Fax : +49.391.67.12018

E-Mail: a.nuernberger@iik.cs.uni-magdeburg.de


Keywords: hybrid methods, neuro-fuzzy system, system control, neural network, fuzzy system


Abstract

A first prototype of a fuzzy controller can be designed rapidly in most cases. The optimization process is usually more time consuming since the system must be tuned by 'trial-and-error' methods. To simplify the design and optimization process learning techniques derived from neural networks (so called neuro-fuzzy approaches) can be used. In this paper we describe an updated version of the neuro-fuzzy model NEFCON. This model is able to learn and to optimize the rulebase of a Mamdani-like fuzzy controller online by a reinforcement learning algorithm that uses a fuzzy error measure. Therefore we also describe some methods to determine a fuzzy error measure of a dynamic system. Besides we present an implementation of the model and an application example under the MATLAB/SIMULINK development environment. The optimized fuzzy controller can be detached from the development environment and can be used in realtime environments. The tool is available via the Internet.


Introduction

The main problems in fuzzy controller design are the construction of an initial rulebase and in particular the optimization of an existing rulebase. The methods presented in this paper have been developed to support the user in both of these cases.

One of the main objectives of our project is to develop algorithms that are able to determine online an appropriate and interpretable rulebase within a small number of simulation runs. Besides it must be possible to use prior knowledge to initialize the learning process. This is a contrast to 'pure' reinforcement strategies [3] or methods based on dynamic programming [1; 15], which try to find an optimal solution using neural network structures. These methods need many runs to find even an approximate solution for a given control problem. On the other hand, they have the advantage that they need less information about the error of the current system state. However, in many cases a simple error description can be achieved with little effort. In this paper we present some methods to determine a fuzzy error measure of a dynamic system.

The first prototype implementation of the described algorithms and the development of a user friendly interface was done in cooperation with the Daimler-Benz Aerospace Airbus GmbH, Hamburg [14]. The tool can be obtained free of charge for non-commercial purposes from our Internet Web-Server (http://fuzzy.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/nefcon or ftp://fuzzy.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/pub/nefconma).


The NEFCON-Model

The NEFCON-Model is based on a generic fuzzy perceptron [9; 11; 12]. An example, which describes the structure of a fuzzy controller with 5 rules, 2 inputs, and one output is shown in Figure 1. The inner nodes R1, ... , R5 represent the rules, the nodes , , and the input and output values, and , the fuzzy sets describing the antecedents and consequents . Rules with the same antecedent use so-called shared weights, which are represented by ellipses (see Figure 1). They ensure the integrity of the rulebase. The node R1 for example represents the rule: .

Figure 1. A NEFCON System with two inputs, 5 rules and one output


The Learning Algorithms

The learning process of the NEFCON model can be divided into two main phases. The first phase is designed to learn an initial rulebase, if no prior knowledge about the system is available. Furthermore it can be used to complete a manually defined rulebase. The second phase optimizes the rules by shifting or modifying the fuzzy sets of the rules. Both phases use a fuzzy error E, which describes the quality of the current system state, to learn or to optimize the rulebase.

The fuzzy error plays the role of the critic element in reinforcement learning models (e.g. [3; 2]). In addition the sign of the optimal output value opt must be known. So the extended fuzzy error E* is defined as

E*(x1, ..., xn) = sgn(opt) E(x1, ..., xn),

with the crisp input (x1, ..., xn).

The updated NEFCON learning algorithm learns and optimizes the rulebase of a Mamdani like fuzzy controller [8]. The fuzzy sets of the antecedents and consequents can be represented by any symmetric membership function. Triangular, trapezoidal, and Gaussian functions are supported by the presented implementation.


Learning a Rulebase

Methods to learn an initial rulebase can be divided into three classes: Methods starting with an empty rulebase [13; 17], methods starting with a 'full' rulebase (combination of every fuzzy set in the antecedents with every consequent) [10] and methods starting with a random rulebase [7]. We implemented algorithms of the first two classes.

Modified Algorithm NEFCON I

The modified algorithm NEFCON I is based on the original NEFCON model [10; 12]. It starts with a 'full' rulebase. The algorithm can be divided into two phases which are executed for a fixed period of time or a fixed number of iteration steps. During the first phase, rules with an output sign different from that of the optimal output value opt are removed. During the second phase, a rulebase is constructed for each control action by selecting randomly one rule from every group of rules with identical antecedents. The error of each rule (the output error of the whole network weighted by the activation of the individual rule) is accumulated. At the end of the second phase from each group of rule nodes with identical antecedents the rule with the least error value remains in the rulebase. All other rule nodes are deleted. In addition, rules used very rarely are removed from the rulebase. The original algorithm used triangular membership functions, while the improved implementation also supports trapezoidal and Gaussian membership functions. Besides, the algorithm was enhanced for dynamic systems which need a static offset.

The 'Bottom-Up'-Algorithm

The 'Bottom-Up'-Algorithm starts with an empty rulebase. An initial fuzzy partitioning of the input and output intervals must be given. The algorithm can be divided into two phases. During the first phase, the rules' antecedents are determined by classifying the input values, i.e. finding that membership function for each variable that yields the highest membership value for the respective input value. Then the algorithm tries to 'guess' the output value by deriving it from the current fuzzy error. During the second phase the rulebase is optimized by changing the consequent to an adjacent membership function, if this is necessary. The improved implementation supports trapezoidal and Gaussian membership functions, too.

The 'Bottom-Up'-Algorithm is much faster than NEFCON I in case of a large number of input variables and a fine initial fuzzy partitioning. This is caused by the huge initial rulebase used by the NEFCON I algorithm. Nevertheless the 'Bottom-Up'-Algorithm should not be used for complex dynamic systems up to now, because of the heuristic approach of finding the consequents.


Optimization of a Rulebase

The algorithms presented in this section are designed to optimize a rulebase of a fuzzy controller by shifting and/or modifying the support of the fuzzy sets. They do not modify the rules or the structure of a given network.

The Algorithm NEFCON I

The algorithm NEFCON I [12] is motivated by the backpropagation algorithm for the multilayer perceptron. The extended fuzzy error E* is used to optimize the rulebase by 'reward and punishment'. A rule is 'rewarded' by shifting its consequent to a higher value and by widening the support of the antecedents, if its current output has the same sign as the optimal output opt. Otherwise the rule is 'punished' by shifting its consequent to a lower value and by reducing the support of the antecedents.

The original model used monotonic membership functions [18] in the consequents to make it possible to use a backpropagation algorithm. In the current implementation this restriction was removed by storing the activation of every rule during the inference mechanism. Thus it is possible to use symmetric fuzzy sets in the consequents and the antecedents.

The Algorithm NEFCON II

In contrast to the algorithm NEFCON I, which uses only the current fuzzy error E*, the algorithm NEFCON II also makes use of the change of the fuzzy error E* to optimize the rulebase [13]. This is a heuristic approach to include the dynamics of the system into the optimization process. Let E* be the extended fuzzy error at time t and E*' the extended fuzzy error at time t+1, then the error tendency is defined as

If = 0, the system moves to an optimal state. In this case the rulebase will not be modified. If = 1, the error is rising without changing its sign. The output of each rule is increased by shifting its consequents. The antecedents of rules with consequents increasing the output will be 'rewarded', while those with consequents decreasing the output will be 'punished'. If = -1, the system has overshot. The output is decreased and the antecedents 'punished' or 'rewarded' accordingly.


Description of System Error

In case of a simple dynamic system the error can be described sufficiently well by simply using the difference between the reference signal and the system response. In case of more complex and sensitive systems the error must be described more exactly to obtain a satisfying rulebase with the presented algorithms.

A Linguistic Error Description

The optimal state of a dynamic system can be described by a vector of system state variable values. Usually the state can not be described exactly, or we are content, if the system variables have roughly taken these values. Thus the quality of a current state can be described by fuzzy rules. With an error definition that uses a linguistic error description with fuzzy rules it is also easily possible to describe compensatory situations [12]. These are situations in which the dynamic system is driven towards its optimal state. In Figure 2 an error description is shown, which is part of the implementation. This rulebase also describes an overshoot situation (rules 7 and 8).

Figure 2. Sample Rulebase for Fuzzy Error Description

An Error Description with 'Fuzzy Intervals'

The error description with 'fuzzy intervals' has been developed for the presented implementation. It makes it possible to describe a 'soft' region for the system response which satisfies our request to the system behavior in a simple and intuitive way.

Figure 3 presents an error description for a simple switch signal. The error signal remains zero, if the response signal of the dynamic system stays in the defined interval between the reference signal and the bounds (thick lines). If the signal leaves the bounds of the interval, the fuzzy error is determined using a linguistic error definition as described above.

Figure 3. Sample of an Error Description using 'Fuzzy Intervals'


Implementation

The aim of the implementation under MATLAB/SIMULINK was to develop an interactive tool for the construction and optimization of a fuzzy controller. This frees the user of programming and supports him to concentrate on controller design. It is possible to include prior knowledge into the system, to stop and to resume the learning process at any time, and to modify the rulebase and the optimization parameters interactively. Besides, a graphical user interface was designed to support the user during the development process of the fuzzy controller.

Figure 4 presents the simulation environment of a sample application during the optimization phase of the algorithm. The sample was created under Microsoft Windows NT 4.0.

Figure 4. Sample of a Development Environment under MATLAB/SIMULINK (PT2 System)


Example

As an example for the usability of the presented algorithms and error descriptions in practice, we present the simulation results concerning a conventional PT2 system. Simulation results concerning the classical inverted pendulum problem are comparable to the results obtained by the 'original' NEFCON algorithms presented in prior publications [10; 13; 12].

A PT2-system models the behavior of a two-mass system, for example a spring-damper combination or a revolution control for an electric motor (see [6; 16]). In classical control theory a PT2 system is controlled by a PI or a PID controller. A comparison to fuzzy controllers for this problem is considered e.g. in [4].

For the presented example we used a PT2 system that is given by the following differential equation:

.

For the constants we chose , and . The transfer function of this system is defined as:

.

The reference signal y' and the fuzzy error were described using 'fuzzy intervals' (see Figure 3). To control the PT2 system a NEFCON system with one output signal and three input signals (, , ) was used. The algorithm NEFCON I was selected for the rule learning process, since the heuristic approach of finding the conclusions used by the algorithm NEFCON II would have resulted in an inappropriate rulebase. The reason for this is the integral part, that is needed for control (in a stable state (dy = 0) the dynamic system will probably need an input value y != 0 to remain stable; e.g. an electric motor needs an amperage unequal to zero to maintain a constant number of revolutions). The algorithm NEFCON II was selected for optimization. The input interval of each input variable was partitioned by three trapezoidal fuzzy sets and the output interval by five fuzzy sets. The simulation environment is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Simulation Environment for the PT2 System

The algorithm used a noisy reference signal during rule learning to improve the coverage of the system state space (see cycle 1-3 in Figure 8). The noise was produced by a signal generator included in the implementation. The learning algorithm was applied for 3 rule learning and 3 optimization cycles (with 167 iteration steps each cycle, where each cycle takes 5 seconds system time). The optimized rulebase consists of 25 rules (see Figure 7). The resulting fuzzy sets are shown in Figure 6.

After the learning process was finished, the controller was able to drive the system quite nicely along the desired course (see simulation cycle 7 in Figure 8). However, the control behavior is a little bit 'fidget'. This was implicitly tolerated by the error boundaries defined with the 'fuzzy intervals' and so it could not be improved during optimization.

Figure 6. Fuzzy Sets of Optimized Rulebase

   1.  If (input1 is ne) and (input2 is ne) and (input3 is ne) then (output is ne)
   2.  If (input1 is ne) and (input2 is ne) and (input3 is ze) then (output is nm)
   3.  If (input1 is ne) and (input2 is ne) and (input3 is po) then (output is ne) 
   4.  If (input1 is ne) and (input2 is ze) and (input3 is ne) then (output is ne) 
   5.  If (input1 is ne) and (input2 is ze) and (input3 is ze) then (output is po) 
   6.  If (input1 is ne) and (input2 is ze) and (input3 is po) then (output is nm) 
   7.  If (input1 is ne) and (input2 is po) and (input3 is ne) then (output is nm) 
   8.  If (input1 is ne) and (input2 is po) and (input3 is ze) then (output is nm) 
   9.  If (input1 is ne) and (input2 is po) and (input3 is po) then (output is nm) 
   10. If (input1 is ze) and (input2 is ne) and (input3 is ne) then (output is po)
   11. If (input1 is ze) and (input2 is ne) and (input3 is ze) then (output is nm)
   12. If (input1 is ze) and (input2 is ne) and (input3 is po) then (output is ze)
   13. If (input1 is ze) and (input2 is ze) and (input3 is ne) then (output is pm)
   14. If (input1 is ze) and (input2 is ze) and (input3 is ze) then (output is ze)
   15. If (input1 is ze) and (input2 is ze) and (input3 is po) then (output is pm)
   16. If (input1 is ze) and (input2 is po) and (input3 is ne) then (output is pm)
   17. If (input1 is ze) and (input2 is po) and (input3 is ze) then (output is po)
   18. If (input1 is ze) and (input2 is po) and (input3 is po) then (output is po)
   19. If (input1 is po) and (input2 is ne) and (input3 is ne) then (output is nm)
   20. If (input1 is po) and (input2 is ne) and (input3 is ze) then (output is nm)
   21. If (input1 is po) and (input2 is ne) and (input3 is po) then (output is ze)
   22. If (input1 is po) and (input2 is ze) and (input3 is ze) then (output is ze)
   23. If (input1 is po) and (input2 is ze) and (input3 is po) then (output is po)
   24. If (input1 is po) and (input2 is po) and (input3 is ze) then (output is ze)
   25. If (input1 is po) and (input2 is po) and (input3 is po) then (output is ze)

Figure 7. Learned Rulebase

Figure 8. Simulation Results for a PT2 System


Conclusion

By the implementation of the updated NEFCON model under MATLAB/SIMULINK it is possible to use the model conveniently for the design of fuzzy controllers for different dynamic systems. Additionally, the system configuration can be changed easily. The implementation was designed to be used as an interactive development tool.

In case of dynamic systems with little temporal dependence the rules of the controller will be learned and optimized within a small number of runs. The obtained fuzzy controller will be able to control the dynamic system appropriately. In addition the rulebase is always interpretable. In case of complex systems the quality of the results greatly depends on the definition of the error measure. This is caused by the fact that the NEFCON algorithms use only a simple approach to include the dynamics of the controlled system in the optimization process (see the credit assignment problem [3]). Some variations of reinforcement strategies [1; 7] have to be analyzed in order to determine if it is possible to integrate them into the optimization phase of the presented algorithms. It has to be checked whether they improve the quality of the controller without increasing the number of learning runs significantly.

Remark: MATLAB/SIMULINK is a simulation tool developed and distributed by 'The Mathworks' Inc., 24 Prime Park Way, Natick, Mass.01760; WWW: http://www.mathworks.com .


References

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[14] Nürnberger, Andreas (1996): Entwurf und Implementierung des Neuro-Fuzzy-Modells NEFCON zur Realisierung Neuronaler Fuzzy-Regler unter MATLAB/SIMULINK, Diplomarbeit, Technische Universität Braunschweig

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Andreas Nürnberger, June 9, 1997