Intelligent agents for supervision and control: a perspective

At present, intelligent control comprises the application of systems like fuzzy controllers or neural networks. However, such systems are only a first step towards really intelligent and autonomous control systems and, therefore, more sophisticated theories and methods have to be developed. The term "intelligent agent" is intensively discussed in the field of computer science at present. First applications of agents or multiagent systems are promising and open new dimensions also for the control and supervision of complex dynamic systems and plants. However, some open questions still remain. A clear definition of an intelligent control agent does not exist and there are no straightforward design and engineering methods. Therefore, we try to define the term control agent and the property "autonomy". In addition. We give a perspective of the application of such agents in wastewater treatment.