fuzzyTECH follows the familiar look&feel of the latest generation of MS Windows and MS Office software products. The treeview pane enables structured access to all components of a fuzzy logic system under design in the same way the Windows Explorer lets users browse the structure of their PCs. The Editor and Analyzer windows allow to design each single component of a fuzzy logic system graphically.

Linguistic Variables are the lifeblood of a fuzzy logic design. fuzzyTECH's Linguistic Variable Editors enable to simply "draw" various types of membership functions with the mouse. In any Debug mode, the Linguistic Variable Editor also visualizes fuzzification. In Interactive Debug mode, moving the red arrow with the mouse simulates input conditions.

The Fuzzy Logic rules determine how the system reacts to input conditions. This is where you implement the control and optimization strategies for your solution. To best serve the needs of different applications, fuzzyTECH provides three different rule block editors. The Spreadsheet Rule editor follows the familiar style of a table. You define complete rule bases just by point&click, consistency is automatically enforced. Many experienced users prefer the Matrix Rule editor for complex rule blocks. Entering rules in FTL (Fuzzy Technology Language) format enables you to type in rules in the most flexible way. Either way you input rules, you can always use any other editor to process or analyze them further.

fuzzyTECH's rich suite of analysis tools has set standards in visual simulation software. The 2D and 3D Analyzers let you analyze the transfer characteristics of a fuzzy logic system or its components in any possible way. Any modification of the system is immediately reflected in all analyzers. This faciliates "interactive" development of a solution. The Time Plot analyzers help you understanding and optimizing the fuzzy logic system for the process under control.

While fuzzyTECH already comprises all simulation features for the fuzzy logic system under design, you may also use fuzzyTECH with standard simulation software packages such as Matlab/Simulink™, MatrixX™, and most others. During simulation, you can use all editors and analyzers of fuzzyTECH and you may modify the running system "on-the-fly". All fuzzyTECH Editions, including the demonstration software you may download for free from this web site, come with complete animated simulations of real world processes.

The structured design approach of fuzzyTECH is complemented by a built-in documentation generator and a revision control system. The documentation generator generates complete documentation for ISO 9000 compliant development. You can view, print, and edit the RTF output with standard word processors. The revision control system lets you rewind to earlier development stages and can document the progress. The entire structure of documentation follows the IEC 1131-7 standard on fuzzy logic development.

The Professional Choice

• fuzzyTECH is the basis of many successful applications of fuzzy logic in Japan, Europe and the U.S.
• fuzzyTECH is continuously improved by INFORM's software designers and project engineers.
• fuzzyTECH supports most target hardware platforms and all fuzzy logic design phases.
• Add-on modules provide neural network technologies with fuzzy logic design.

Fast Results

• fuzzyTECH's all-graphical editors let you specify an entire system with simple point-and-click technology.
• Optimization of your design is expedited by fuzzyTECH's analyzer and simulation tools.
• Interactive "what-if" tracing supports detailed comprehension leading to efficient system optimization.
• fuzzyTECH provides code generators for C and assembly, and runtime modules for integration with other software.

Embracing the Standards

• Based on emerging IEC 1131-7 standard for industrial fuzzy logic system development.
• Supports ISO 9001 compliant development with built-in documentation generator and revision control system.
• Allows for the implementation of FDA certifiable control systems (FDA: Food and Drug Administration)

Fuzzy Logic Systems Design by "Point and Click":
fuzzyTECH provides an all-graphical user interface for all phases of a development project. Complemented by its Fuzzy Design Wizards, fuzzyTECH can let you create fuzzy logic solutions in less than a day's work. Here are some screenshots that illustrate the various editors and analyzers (click on the thumbnails to view full scale):

Rapid Application Development
In addition to its standard functionality for creating fuzzy logic systems, fuzzyTECH features a set of Fuzzy Design Wizards that:

• Enable rapid application design.
• Let you conduct ultra-fast prototyping.
• Guide you through the IEC/ISO standardized fuzzy logic design approach.
• Novice users of fuzzyTECH can generate prototype fuzzy logic systems within minutes.
• Experienced designers use it to expedite and streamline their design process.

Open Software Interfaces
fuzzyTECH can be linked and integrated with most other software products via standard interface techniques such as DDE, DLL, and ActiveX. For many popular software environments, we provide complete "plug-and-play" type interfaces (Simulink™, InTouch™, Excel™, Access™, VisualBasic™, ..). For a complete list, download and install the fuzzyTECH Demo from the Download section and explore the contents of the "/Program Files/fuzzyTECH x.y/Runtime/Ftrun/" subdirectory.

Code Generation
At the push of a button, fuzzyTECH generates a complete fuzzy logic solutions in source code. You may use this source code to compile and link with your main code, calling the fuzzy logic system as a simple function. Depending on the Edition (see Editions Overview), portable C code, assembly source code for microcontrollers/-processors, or function blocks for programmable logic controllers can be generated. In a joint development projects with microchip manufacturers such as Motorola and Intel, the compactness and execution speed of the fuzzyTECH generated code has been highly optimized. See our Benchmarks. Notice that you may use any code generated by fuzzyTECH in your products royalty-free.

Stand-Alone Runtime Modules
If the PC is where your fuzzy logic solution shall run on, generating stand-alone solutions is even easier. fuzzyTECH can generate FTR (Fuzzy Technology Runtime) files from your fuzzy logic solution. Now, you can use our stand-alone runtime modules to embed your fuzzy logic solution with other software. Stand-alone runtime modules are available as 16/32 Bit DLL for all MS Windows operating systems and as ActiveX component. Notice that you may use the runtime modules in your products royalty-free.

Process Control Solutions
In close cooperation with our partners, we have provided even tighter integration of fuzzyTECH and popular process control software packages. This makes integrating fuzzy logic control blocks with complete control solutions even easier. Such solutions include: InTouch™, InControl™, CiTECT™, LabVIEW™, Matlab/Simulink™, WinFACT™, WinCC™, FIX™, BridgeVIEW™, and many others.

Online/RTRCD Debugging
The "Online" debugging technique allows for the modification of a running fuzzy logic system "on-the-fly". All editors and analyzers of fuzzyTECH let you monitor the fuzzy logic inference in real time and every modification is implemented instantly on the target hardware. fuzzyTECH communicates with the target system at any time via serial cable, network file system, or other communication link. Real-time data is transferred from the target hardware to the graphical editors and analyzers of fuzzyTECH, allowing complete visualization of the fuzzy logic inference. Modifications to the fuzzy logic system are transferred from fuzzyTECH to the target hardware and implemented without halting this system. Remote traces can be configured and controlled from fuzzyTECH as well. Some fuzzyTECH MCU Editions also provide a limited online debugging functionality, called RTRCD (Real-Time Remote Cross Debugging). RTRCD lets you modify rules and membership functions on-the-fly and run traces.

 

Technical Specifications

The following tables provide a summary of the various fuzzyTECH Editions specifications. For a detailed explanation of the terminology used here, download and install the fuzzyTECH Demo from the Download section and use the index function of its Online Help System.

Overview
fuzzyTECH is available in different editions to provide the most comprehensive support for your target platform and application area. Due to differences in the capabilities of the supported hardware platforms, technical restrictions apply to the size of the fuzzy systems. The following table shows an overview of the maximum number of interfaces, variables, terms, rule blocks and rules for the different fuzzyTECH Editions. A "-" sign indicates that no practical limit exists. The total number of  Variables (Total) represent the number of input, output and intermediate variables of the entire fuzzy logic system. The columns Input and Output show the maximum amount of input and output variables. Terms per Variable relates to the total number of terms for each variable. The column Total Terms shows the maximum number of terms that may occur in one fuzzy logic project. The Rules sections shows the maximum total number of Rule Blocks and Rules that a fuzzy logic project may contain, as well as the maximum total number of input variables (Inputs per RB) and output variables (Outputs per RB) that can be assigned to a rule block.

Membership Functions
fuzzyTECH supports various fuzzy logic inference methods and algorithms. The following table lists methods of fuzzification and Types of membership functions (MBF) supported by each fuzzyTECH Edition. Standard MBFs are sometimes called "4-point definitions". Arbitrary MBFs can be defined with up to 16 points of definition. Inverse MBFs (inverse terms) are useful for filling a rule part with the negated form of an already existing term. The column MBF Shapes shows the available approximation functions for membership functions. The column Fuzzification Method lists the supported algorithms for the fuzzification step of the fuzzy logic inference. Fuzzy Input indicates that  variables are inputted as fuzzy values (i.e. as vectors of membership degrees) instead of crisp values. The standard fuzzification method is computation at run time (MBF Computation). For most target hardware implementations, this is the most efficient approach.

Inference and Defuzzification
The table below summarizes supported methods of fuzzy logic inference and defuzzification. The fuzzy inference consists of three computational steps: Aggregation, Composition, and Result Aggregation. Different operators can be chosen for aggregation (Input aggregation) and result aggregation. Fuzzy operators used for aggregation (Minimum or Maximum) combine the preconditions of each fuzzy rule. Beside this standard operators, some fuzzyTECH Editions support compensatory operators (Gamma, Min-Avg, Min-Max), that help to compute relations between rules formulated with the logic standard operators AND (Minimum) and NOR (Maximum). The second step of the fuzzy rule inference, the composition, works generally with the PROD-Operator as fixed operator. Standard Rules are rules with a fixed rule weight (Degree of Support = 1.0) that cannot be changed. FAM Rules stands for "Fuzzy Associative Maps" and refers to individually weighted rules (Degree of Support = DoS). The last step of fuzzy inference is the so-called result aggregation. Its MAX operator selects the maximum firing degree of all rules matching to the term. The BSUM operator uses a bounded sum. Thus, all firing degrees are summed by using a bound of one. Note that BSUM result aggregation is different from BSUM MoM and BSUM CoA. The bounds are zero and one.

1) Only available as add-on module

The result of the fuzzy inference is a fuzzy value that has to be re-transformed into a crisp value. This transformation is called Defuzzification. Different computation methods can be applied for defuzzification. The standard defuzzification is CoM (Center-of-Maximum), delivering the "best compromise" for the inference result. It is equivalent to most implementations of Center-of-Area (CoA) and Center-of-Gravity (CoG) methods. The MoM (Mean-of-Maximum) method delivers the "most plausible" result. Hence, it is mostly used in applications such as pattern recognition, data analysis, and decision support. The defuzzification method HyperCoM (see last column) is only available as add-on module for a few editions. HyperCoM is a defuzzification method that takes both positive and negative experience into consideration (e.g. in the form of recommendations and warnings). A hyperdefuzzification strategy weights these recommendations and warnings against each other and computes a membership function, from which HyperCoM then computes the optimum based output value.

System Optimization and Analysis, Add-on Modules
All fuzzyTECH Editions come with a complete set of debugging features (Debug Modes) and analysis tools Analyzers (see Table below). Remote debugging, where fuzzyTECH running on the PC debugs a fuzzy logic system running on a different computer/microcontroller, is facilitated by Online and  RTRCD debug modes. The RTRCD debug mode (Real Time Remote Cross Debugging) lets you analyze the running system and modify rules and membership functions. The Online debug mode in addition allows for all types of modifications on-the-fly. To expand the capabilities of fuzzyTECH, several Add-on Modules are available. The HyperInference Module expands traditional fuzzy logic rule inference with the ability of "prohibitive" rules. Click on the [Add-On Modules] item in the treeview to your left for more information.

Code Generation
The table below lists supported code generator options. The File Code option generates a complete C source code for an executable program which accepts file data as input and writes outputs to a file as well. Since fuzzyTECH generates the complete fuzzy logic system as a single function, input and output values can be transferred as function parameters (Function Call) over the system stack. The C Code column lists which C compiler standard is supported. Besides, Code Interface Resolution indicates the data types of the interfaces, too.

1)Using fuzzyTECH Runtime DLL.

Add-On Modules/HyperInference Module

The HyperInference Add-On Module extends the traditional fuzzy logic inference. While traditional fuzzy logic inference only allows for rules to express positive experience, HyperInference introduces rules that also can represent warnings or vetoes. For control and supervision of technical processes, adequate consideration of experience in the form of warnings is necessary to prevent undesired operating situations in the interests of protecting the plant or sparing costs. INFORM has exclusively licensed the patented HyperInference technology for fuzzyTECH.

Would you like to see HyperInference in action and read more about its theoretical background? We have included two examples with the free demonstration version of fuzzyTECH that you can download from this web site. Once you installed fuzzyTECH on your PC, use the [Start] button to access the HyperInference examples (Start/Programs/fuzzyTECH/Examples/3rd Party/HyperInference..).
 

The first demonstration is a very simple introductory example of a ship steering problem, where the input variables Distance and Position describe the location of an obstacle, and a 5 fuzzy logic rules implement an obstacle avoiding strategy. Just one rule, rule #4, implements the obstacle avoiding strategy, while the others implement the "normal" steering. This demonstration is contained in "just" an FTL-File.

The second demonstration comes with a complete simulation environment for an electric power steering system. To make an electric power steering system perform smooth steering support, the DC motor has to be used in a highly non-linear operation point. Design and implementation of a conventional controller would be very hard. With fuzzy logic, a solution can be derived much easier. Using the HyperInference technique, the example demonstrate that the number of rules necessary for a successful solution can be significantly decreased.