Tracking control of nonlinear systems with significant delay effects has been the focus of intensive research. In this paper, we propose an effective supervised adaptive control scheme to tackle the problem. The scheme is composed of an adaptive control part of two neuron-like models with delay effects and a supervisory control part to enhance robustness against disturbance and model uncertainties. A design methodology based on the Lyapunov analysis is presented. Experimental results obtained from a practical temperature control system show that not only is the design procedure conceptually simple but also the control performance is also excellent when compared with the traditional PD controller. Also, the feedforward term is able to provide extra improvement in the regulation performance.
