Intelligent Control of a Water-Recovery System

This article discusses our experience building and running an intelligent control system during a three-year period for a National Aeronautics and Space Administration advanced life support (ALS) system. "We'll have to go with 4 two-head pumps for the nitrifier." "That pump doesn't give me any feedback for speed, so we can't be sure it's responding to commands." "It'll have to do," said a woman at the far end of the conference table. By 1995, the AI controls team had been working with several groups in the Crew and Thermal Systems Division (CTSD), building AI control systems in support of CTSD's investigations in advanced life support (ALS).