logiccontrol

Logiccontrol refers to the systematic use of logical reasoning and state-based decision making to govern the operation of devices and systems. It covers the design and implementation of control logic that determines when actions should occur in response to inputs, sensor readings, and internal states. In hardware and automation, logic control is implemented using combinational logic and sequential logic, commonly realized with relays, flip-flops, multiplexers, and increasingly with programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and microcontrollers. Common representations include ladder logic, function block diagrams, and structured text. The main objectives are sequencing, gating, timing, error handling, and safety interlocks. Logic control operates alongside continuous control loops; while the logic handles discrete decisions, continuous control handles analog variables via controllers such as PID.

Applications span manufacturing automation, robotics, process industries, and various consumer electronics, as well as network devices that require stateful protocol control. History of logic control traces from relay-based control in early industrial automation to the widespread adoption of PLCs in the 1960s and 1970s, followed by digital and software-based implementations. In modern systems, logic control is often integrated with software and modular architectures, enabling more complex behaviors and easier maintenance while retaining a focus on discrete-event decision making.

See also: control systems, digital logic, finite state machines, ladder logic, programmable logic controller.