10. An automated system for monitoring or control of a target apparatus, said system comprising an inference apparatus arranged to receive a plurality of input signals from sensors coupled to a target apparatus, to determine a set of membership degrees for each input and to perform fuzzy inference by a method comprising: (a) receiving one or more input values and generating an array of values each representing a membership degree of a respective input value in a pre-defined fuzzy set; (b) forming a vector sum of said array of membership degree values and a rule array representing a fuzzy rule of a fuzzy rule base, said rule array comprising a set of binary values, whereby forming said vector sum places each of said membership degree values, which initially all lie in a predetermined numerical range, into one of two distinct numerical ranges, according to a corresponding binary value in said rule array; and (c) processing elements of said vector sum to determine a firing strength for said fuzzy rule represented by said rule array.
10. An automated system for monitoring or control of a target apparatus, said system comprising an inference apparatus arranged to receive a plurality of input signals from sensors coupled to a target apparatus, to determine a set of membership degrees for each input and to perform fuzzy inference by a method comprising: (a) receiving one or more input values and generating an array of values each representing a membership degree of a respective input value in a pre-defined fuzzy set; (b) forming a vector sum of said array of membership degree values and a rule array representing a fuzzy rule of a fuzzy rule base, said rule array comprising a set of binary values, whereby forming said vector sum places each of said membership degree values, which initially all lie in a predetermined numerical range, into one of two distinct numerical ranges, according to a corresponding binary value in said rule array; and (c) processing elements of said vector sum to determine a firing strength for said fuzzy rule represented by said rule array. 11. The system as claimed in claim 10 , comprising: a feedback path for applying said output value of said fuzzy inference to influence a state of said target apparatus.