Feedforward

Summary

Feedforward acts before the result is available to be measured. It uses intention, forecast or measured disturbance to shape action in advance. It is usually strongest when combined with feedback that corrects modelling error and surprise.

Implications for practice

Waiting for failure before responding is often costly. Feedforward can prepare capacity, prevent deviation and make intentions interpretable. Its weakness is that it depends on the quality of the model, forecast and disturbance sensing.

Key distinctions

• anticipatory action vs reaction to output
• feedforward vs open-loop command
• forecast or model vs certainty
• feedforward information vs feedback correction

Historical development

• anticipatory control developed alongside feedback control
• the term also developed a communication meaning in cybernetic discussions
• modern engineering commonly combines feedforward with feedback

Ideas it depends on

• a sensed or anticipated disturbance
• a model or expectation of effects
• capacity to act before output changes

Further developments

• predictive control
• advance capacity planning
• briefing and expectation-setting
• combined feedforward-feedback architectures

Connections to practice

• ask what can be known early enough to matter
• state the assumptions in the predictive model
• retain feedback for unmeasured disturbances
• distinguish preparation from premature control

Common confusions

• feedback supplied early
• perfect prediction
• a substitute for feedback
• any plan is feedforward

Further checks

• I. A. Richards and Macy lineage
• management-cybernetics uses
• predictive control literature

Recorded connections

Check the wording, direction, scope, sources, and status of a connection before relying on it.

• Feedforward complements Feedback

  Status: corroborated · Relation: complements

  Locator: IEEE topic definitions

  • Feedforward systems - IEEE Technology Navigator (research pass needs editor)
  • Feedback - IEEE Technology Navigator (research pass needs editor)

• Feedforward provides an anticipatory mechanism for Regulation

  Status: provisional · Relation: explains

  This is a provisional semantic or practice crosswalk. It does not establish historical influence, equivalence, efficacy or universal applicability. Item-level source review and curator acceptance are still required.

  Locator: Interpretive comparison of the two maintained public descriptions and their cited source records

  • Feedforward systems - IEEE Technology Navigator (research pass needs editor)
  • An Introduction to Cybernetics (passage checked research pass)
  • Every Good Regulator of a System Must Be a Model of That System (passage checked research pass)

• Control theory uses anticipatory control through Feedforward

  Status: provisional · Relation: uses

  This is a provisional semantic or practice crosswalk. It does not establish historical influence, equivalence, efficacy or universal applicability. Item-level source review and curator acceptance are still required.

  Locator: Interpretive comparison of the two maintained public descriptions and their cited source records

  • SCiO SysBoK - Feedback v1 · No public link (pass4 legacy internal register audit)
  • What is Control? (checked)
  • History of Control (checked)
  • Feedforward systems - IEEE Technology Navigator (research pass needs editor)

Claims and disputes

• Feedforward acts before output error is observed and therefore depends on adequate disturbance measurement, forecasting or a model of likely effects.

  Claim status: provisional. Review status: research pass needs editor.

  The object is a placeholder for informational/model dependence, not a claim that Shannon information theory is always required.

  Supporting sources

  • Feedforward systems - IEEE Technology Navigator (research pass needs editor)

Sources and passage locators

• Feedforward systems - IEEE Technology Navigator (research pass needs editor)
• Feedback - IEEE Technology Navigator (research pass needs editor)
• An Introduction to Cybernetics (passage checked research pass)
• Every Good Regulator of a System Must Be a Model of That System (passage checked research pass)
• SCiO SysBoK - Feedback v1 · No public link (pass4 legacy internal register audit)
• What is Control? (checked)
• History of Control (checked)

• Feedforward systems - IEEE Technology Navigator: Section: What Are Feedforward Systems? · research pass needs editor
• Feedback - IEEE Technology Navigator: Sections: What Is Feedback?; Negative and Positive Feedback · research pass needs editor

Cite this entry

Taylor, B. P. (2026). Feedforward. The Necessary Tangle, release 0.35. https://transduction.systems/entries/concept_feedforward/

Include the release and review status when you quote or reuse this account.