PREDICTIVE AND ADAPTIVE CONTROLS HELP TO ENSURE PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS ARE MAINTAINED IN COMPLEX, MULTI-VARIABLE PROCESS OPERATIONS
Hence, many processors are implementing more advanced systems, known as predictive and adaptive controls, to regulate these processes. Most such systems base control decisions on comparisons between mathematical models of the process and the process itself, thus allowing the controller to predict where a process is heading; identify the control efforts required to keep the process within specifications; and make the adjustments required to ensure that specifications are maintained. Continual input/output data from the process are used to update the model while it operates, so that it can account for process changes and continue to optimize performance. Assuming, for instance, that production rates change, the predictive adaptive controller in turn modifies response time.