Intelligent control of VCR audio tuning process using a genetic estimator

This article proposes an intelligent control scheme for automating the VCR audio tuning process using genetic algorithms (GAs). Being a non-linear mul timodal system, the process is difficult to automate by simple conventional controllers. In the proposed control scheme, a new kind of GA structure, c alled a genetic estimator, is used for estimating the unknown internal stat e of the process and a simple integral controller is adopted to drive the p rocess according to the estimated state. To adapt GA to the estimation prob lem, the general procedure of the conventional GAs is modified in two aspec ts: the reproduction strategy uses two different criteria (survival cost an d parent cost) for natural selection and parent selection, and a new geneti c operator is developed on the basis of the model of the process to generat e offspring solutions more effectively. The performance of the proposed con trol scheme was investigated via experiments, and the results obtained show that the control scheme performs the task very well.