Design of fuzzy logic controllers for optimal performance

Fuzzy logic controllers are gaining a wide recognition in many industrial applications since they are generally robust under varying operating conditions. However, it may be difficult to design a good controller when observations about the system are scarce or when the system has large number of inputs and outputs. These limitations may result in a system with less than optimal performance. This paper presents an algorithm for optimizing the performance of a fuzzy logic controller using nonlinear programming techniques. As an example, this method is applied to the problem of designing a fuzzy logic controller for the navigation of an autonomous vehicle. The results of the computer simulation and comparison with other techniques for designing fuzzy logic controller are presented and discussed.