BUFFER COMPARTMENT
Charles François (2004). BUFFER COMPARTMENT, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 345.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 345 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
- “A part of a system which acts as a reservoir for incoming energy, matter, or information such that the inputs enter the rest of the system with smoothed and averaged characteristics” (T.F.H. ALLEN & T.B. STARR, 1982, p. 263).
The quantities of energy, matter, or information stored in the buffer compartment are at the free disposal of the system. They can be used by regulatory subsystems when needed. This permits a range of differential responses in a changing environment, an adaptive mechanism sometimes called buffering, and it also opposes wide structural destruction.