Evolvable building blocks for analog fuzzy logic controllers

Abstract

This work discusses the use of an evolvable hardware (EHW) platform in the synthesis of analog electronic circuits for fuzzy logic controllers. A fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is defined by a collection of fuzzy if-then rules and a set of membership functions characterizing the linguistic terms associated with the inputs and output of the FLC. The EHW analog platform, named PAMA-NG (programmable analog multiplexer array - next generation), is a reconfigurable platform that consists of integrated circuits whose internal connections can be programmed by evolutionary computation techniques, such as genetic algorithms, to synthesize circuits. The PAMA-NG is classified as a field programmable analog array (FPAA). FPAAs have appeared recently and constitute the state of the art in the technology of reconfigurable platforms. These devices will become the building blocks of a forthcoming class of hardware, with the important features of self-adaptation and self-repairing, through automatic reconfiguration. This article focuses on the development of building blocks for analog FLCs on the PAMA-NG and presents case studies.