AIDECS. An AI-based, distributed environmental control system for self-sustaining habitats

Abstract

The work described here derives from the implementation of intelligent control for a Bioregenerative Closed Ecological Life Support System. The AI-Based, Distributed Environment Control System (AIDECS) will be capable of supporting, in an integrated fashion, all activities ranging from planning of agricultural activities at the highest level to real-time control of environmental conditions at the lowest level. This paper describes the AIDECS subsystem that deals with control over two widely different time scales: (1) that of scheduling crop planting and harvesting over the extended horizon needed to ensure maintenance of the CO2/O2 and other gas balances typically involving units of weeks, months and years), and (2) that of controlling environmental parameters such as temperature and humidity to be properly correlated with crop requirements and external weather conditions (typically involving units of hours and days).