A WORKING DEFINITION OF REAL-TIME CONTROL,

Control is the process of assuring the confirmity of plans and events. Real-time control requires that the response of each element of the control system is such that the combined effect of all elements produces results that are sufficiently expenditious to preclude failure of the system. A real-time control system is concerned with a flow process through time. It thus arises out of, and is intimately connected with the concepts of distribution logistics. The proper functioning of a realtime control system requires the use of every one of its elements, and any one element may become the critical factor. It is not necessarily the elements themselves, but rather the precise interrelationship of these elements, with time, that makes a control system a real-time control system. Progress in the development of real-time systems therefore involves attention to every element and its relation to the others. The elements of a realtime system are forecasting, communication, decision, control mechanism, and criteria. Author