ABSTRACT
Once the theoretical foundations for fuzzy inference systems have been presented, we will focus on the study of the practical aspects pertaining to the development of these systems. With this aim, the discussion will be structured according to the three typical stages in the design of any system: description, verification, and synthesis. Concretely, this chapter will try to answer two key questions related to the description of fuzzy systems: (1) What are the different tasks a fuzzy system designer has to undertake? and (2) What techniques or tools can ease the fulfillment of these tasks? To answer the first question we will analyze the general structure of the inference system introduced in Section 3.7 of Chapter 3, identifying the activities associated with the definition of each of the parts of the system. This analysis will show the existence of a design space with considerable complexity that requires for its exploration the use of formal specification languages managed by computer-based tools. These tools shall assist the designer in the generation and graphical visualization of the sys tem structure and properties. The last part of this chapter will introduce the fuzzy system specification language XFL and the development environment integrating the different design tools that will be used throughout the rest of the book.
