Cognitive Control from the Automation's Perspective

Inspired by cognitive science and cybernetics, the significance of cognitive control for control systems is discussed from an information point-of-view in this paper. Then, cognitive control is redefined based on the information gap, leading to how it can be realized. An elementary structure of cognitive control systems is presented, based on the perception-action cycle, in which the cognitive controller minimizes the information gap of the system by exerting cognitive actions on it, thereby enhancing its performance. In order to clarify the differences among cognitive control, cognitive radio, and cognitive radar, a comparative analysis is presented in this paper. In the end, the effectiveness of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by a wireless networked control system as an example.