Soft sensors are inferential estimators, drawing conclusions from process observations when hardware sensors are unavailable or unsuitable; they have an important auxiliary role in sensor validation when performance declines through senescence or fault accumulation.

The non-linear behaviour exhibited by many industrial processes can be usefully modelled with the techniques of computational intelligence: neural networks; fuzzy systems and nonlinear partial least squares.

Soft Sensors for Monitoring and Control of Industrial Processes underlines the real usefulness of each approach and the sensitivity of the individual steps in soft-sensor design to the choice of one or the other. Design paths are suggested and readers shown how to evaluate the effects of their choices. All the case studies reported, resulting from collaborations between the authors and a number of industrial partners, raised challenging soft-sensor-design problems. The applications of soft sensors presented in this volume are designed to cope with the whole range from measuring system backup and what-if analysis through real-time prediction for plant control to sensor diagnosis and validation. Some of the soft sensors developed here are implemented on-line at industrial plants.

Features:

• soft-sensor design;
• advice on data selection and choice of model structure;
• model validation;
• strategies for the improvement of soft-sensor performance;
• uses of soft sensors in fault detection and sensor validation;
• soft sensors in use in industrial applications such as a debutanizer column and a sulfur recovery unit.

This monograph guides interested readers a"researchers, graduate students and industrial process technologists a" through the design of their own soft sensors. It is self-contained with full references and appraisal of existing literature and data sets for some of the case studies can be downloaded from springer.com.

Stochastic Resonance: Theory and Applications deals with the theory of noise-added systems and in particular with Stochastic Resonance, a quite novel theory that was introduced in the 1980s to provide better understanding of some natural phenomena (e.g. ice age recurrence). Following the very first works, a number of different applications to both natural and human-produced phenomena were proposed. The book aims to improve the understanding of noise-based techniques and to focus on practical applications of this class of phenomena (an aspect that has been very poorly investigated up to now). Based on this objective, the book is roughly divided into two parts. The first part deals with the essential theory of noise-added systems and in particular a new approach to noise-added techniques that allows a number of strategies proposed in previous years to be unified. The proposed approach also allows real-time control of the noise characteristics, assuring optimal system performance. In the second part a large number of applications are described in detail in the field of electric and electronic devices, with the aim of allowing readers to build their own experimental set. The book comes with a diskette of educational software that the authors developed. Stochastic Resonance: Theory and Applications is an invaluable reference for students, researchers and engineering professionals working in the fields of electric and electronic measurements, electronics and signal theory.

Stochastic Resonance: Theory and Applications deals with the theory of noise-added systems and in particular with Stochastic Resonance, a quite novel theory that was introduced in the 1980s to provide better understanding of some natural phenomena (e.g. ice age recurrence). Following the very first works, a number of different applications to both natural and human-produced phenomena were proposed. The book aims to improve the understanding of noise-based techniques and to focus on practical applications of this class of phenomena (an aspect that has been very poorly investigated up to now). Based on this objective, the book is roughly divided into two parts. The first part deals with the essential theory of noise-added systems and in particular a new approach to noise-added techniques that allows a number of strategies proposed in previous years to be unified. The proposed approach also allows real-time control of the noise characteristics, assuring optimal system performance. In the second part a large number of applications are described in detail in the field of electric and electronic devices, with the aim of allowing readers to build their own experimental set. The book comes with a diskette of educational software that the authors developed. Stochastic Resonance: Theory and Applications is an invaluable reference for students, researchers and engineering professionals working in the fields of electric and electronic measurements, electronics and signal theory.

Soft sensors are inferential estimators, drawing conclusions from process observations when hardware sensors are unavailable or unsuitable; they have an important auxiliary role in sensor validation when performance declines through senescence or fault accumulation.

The non-linear behaviour exhibited by many industrial processes can be usefully modelled with the techniques of computational intelligence: neural networks; fuzzy systems and nonlinear partial least squares.

Soft Sensors for Monitoring and Control of Industrial Processes underlines the real usefulness of each approach and the sensitivity of the individual steps in soft-sensor design to the choice of one or the other. Design paths are suggested and readers shown how to evaluate the effects of their choices. All the case studies reported, resulting from collaborations between the authors and a number of industrial partners, raised challenging soft-sensor-design problems. The applications of soft sensors presented in this volume are designed to cope with the whole range from measuring system backup and what-if analysis through real-time prediction for plant control to sensor diagnosis and validation. Some of the soft sensors developed here are implemented on-line at industrial plants.

Features:

• soft-sensor design;
• advice on data selection and choice of model structure;
• model validation;
• strategies for the improvement of soft-sensor performance;
• uses of soft sensors in fault detection and sensor validation;
• soft sensors in use in industrial applications such as a debutanizer column and a sulfur recovery unit.

This monograph guides interested readers researchers, graduate students and industrial process technologists through the design of their own soft sensors. It is self-contained with full references and appraisal of existing literature and data sets for some of the case studies can be downloaded from springer.com."