APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING MULTIPLE TIME-VARYING PROCESSES

An apparatus for and a method of controlling multiple time varying proces by a central control device through a use of an adaptive data acquisition scheme is disclosed. A state estimator is used to extrapolate the current state of each control process as well as an estimate of the uncertainty of each state estimate. The state whose uncertainty is greatest is selected. The selected process is then measured, estimated, and a control variable calculated. Use of this selection criteria allows a single control device to effectively control more time varying processes then if the controls had been determined by a controller using a fixed sampling rate. Statistics for each process are updated with each measurement in order to compensate for the time/varying nature of the processes.