FEEDFORWARD
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1260 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
- “Information that attempts to predict disturbances before they actually affect the system” (Adapted from M.C. JACKSON, 1992, p.99).
Information about past events can in many cases be ordered and used to forecast possible future events. Such a knowledge can then be used to try to correct the course of these forecasted events. The concept is fuzzily transferred from engineering.
M.D. RUBIN describes technical feedforward devices in the following terms: “Feedforward occurs when a part of the input signal is also fed around the amplifier and is in some way combined with the output of the amplifier for further processing, in such a way that the output signal is not recirculated through the amplifier” (1968, p.18).
This is thus some kind of buffer device, used to damp possible wild fluctuations. “Forward” seems to imply the intention to control these fluctuations, whose possibility is foreseen.