Adaptation and regulation with signal detection implies internal model

Abstract

This note provides a theorem showing, under suitable technical assumptions, that if a system S adapts to a class of external signals U, in the sense of egulation against disturbances or tracking signals in U, then S must ecessarily contain a subsystem which is capable of generating all the signals in U. It is not assumed that regulation is robust, nor is there a prior requirement for the system to be partitioned into separate plant and controller components. Instead, one assumes that a ``signal detection'' property holds. The result was motivated by questions of adaptation in bacterial chemotaxis, but the general mathematical principle is of wide applicability.