Artificial neural networks are used to model systems that receive inputs and produce outputs. The relationships between the inputs and outputs and the representation parameters are critical issues in the design of related engineering systems, and sensitivity analysis concerns methods for analyzing these relationships. Perturbations of neural networks are caused by machine imprecision, and they can be simulated by embedding disturbances in the original inputs or connection weights, allowing us to study the characteristics of a function under small perturbations of its parameters.

This is the first book to present a systematic description of sensitivity analysis methods for artificial neural networks. It covers sensitivity analysis of multilayer perceptron neural networks and radial basis function neural networks, two widely used models in the machine learning field. The authors examine the applications of such analysis in tasks such as feature selection, sample reduction, and network optimization. The book will be useful for engineers applying neural network sensitivity analysis to solve practical problems, and for researchers interested in foundational problems in neural networks.

The book gives a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art research and engineering in theory and application of Lattice Automata in design and control of autonomous Robots. Automata and robots share the same notional meaning. Automata (originated from the latinization of the Greek word " ") as self-operating autonomous machines invented from ancient years can be easily considered the first steps of robotic-like efforts. Automata are mathematical models of Robots and also they are integral parts of robotic control systems. A Lattice Automaton is a regular array or a collective of finite state machines, or automata. The Automata update their states by the same rules depending on states of their immediate neighbours. In the context of this book, Lattice Automata are used in developing modular reconfigurable robotic systems, path planning and map exploration for robots, as robot controllers, synchronisation of robot collectives, robot vision, parallel robotic actuators. All chapters are written in an accessible manner and lavishly illustrated. The book will help computer and robotic scientists and engineers to understand mechanisms of decentralised functioning of robotic collectives and to design future and emergent reconfigurable, parallel and distributed robotic systems.

Soft computing, as a collection of techniques exploiting approximation and tolerance for imprecision and uncertainty in traditionally intractable problems, has become very effective and popular especially because of the synergy derived from its components. The integration of constituent technologies provides complementary methods that allow developing flexible computing tools and solving complex problems. A wide area of natural applications of soft computing techniques consists of the control of dynamic systems, including robots. Loosely speaking, control can be understood as driving a process to attain a desired goal. Intelligent control can be seen as an extension of this concept, to include autonomous human-like interactions of a machine with the environment. Intelligent robots can be characterized by the ability to operate in an uncertain, changing environment with the help of appropriate sensing. They have the power to autonomously plan and execute motion sequences to achieve a goal specified by a human user without detailed instructions. In this volume leading specialists address various theoretical and practical aspects in soft computing, intelligent robotics and control. The problems discussed are taken from fuzzy systems, neural networks, interactive evolutionary computation, intelligent mobile robotics, and intelligent control of linear and nonlinear dynamic systems.

The present book includes a set of selected papers from the fourth "International Conference on Informatics in Control Automation and Robotics" (ICINCO 2009), held in Milan, Italy, from 2 to 5 July 2009. The conference was organized in three simultaneous tracks: "Intelligent Control Systems and Optimization", "Robotics and Automation" and "Systems Modeling, Signal Processing and Control". The book is based on the same structure. ICINCO received 365 paper submissions, not including those of workshops, from 55 countries, in all continents. After a double blind paper review performed by the Program Committee only 34 submissions were accepted as full papers and thus selected for oral presentation, leading to a full paper acceptance ratio of 9%. Additional papers were accepted as short papers and posters. A further refinement was made after the conference, based also on the assessment of presentation quality, so that this book includes the extended and revised versions of the very best papers of ICINCO 2009. Commitment to high quality standards is a major concern of ICINCO that will be maintained in the next editions of this conference, including not only the stringent paper acceptance ratios but also the quality of the program committee, keynote lectures, workshops and logistics.

Rapid Tooling Guidelines for Sand Casting describes the guidelines for the sand casting industry in using rapid tooling processes. Topics in the seven chapters include sand casting processes, tool design and construction, fast freeform fabrication processes, rapid tooling processes, sand casting dimension control, rapid tooling evaluation methods and decision making processes. Twelve case studies will also be examined in the book.

Recognising the benefits of improved control, the second edition of Autotuning of PID Controllers provides simple yet effective methods for improving PID controller performance. The practical issues of controller tuning are examined using numerous worked examples and case studies in association with specially written autotuning MATLABA(R) programs to bridge the gap between conventional tuning practice and novel autotuning methods.

The extensively revised second edition expands and refines on important work in the ubiquitous PID form of control with material covering:

• Derivation of analytical expressions for relay feedback responses with tabulated results for easy reference.
• The use of shapes of relay responses to generate information for improved closed-loop control and performance assessment.
• The applications of autotuning to multiple-model-based cases for handling process nonlinearity.
• The use of feedback shapes to generate information for performance assessment.
• The impact of imperfect actuators on controller performance.

Autotuning of PID Controllers is more than just a monograph, it is an independent learning tool applicable to the work of academic control engineers and of their counterparts in industry looking for more effective process control and automation.

Comments on the first edition:

This book is written in a way which not only makes it easy to understand but is also useful to those interested in or working with PID controllers.
Assembly Automation

The book will be useful to manufacturers and users of control equipment, and also to researchers in the field of automatic tuning.
Automatica

This book provides insight and enhanced appreciation of analysis, modeling and control of dynamic systems. The reader is assumed to be familiar with calculus, physics and some programming skills. It might develop the reader's ability to interpret physical significance of mathematical results in system analysis. The book also prepares the reader for more advanced treatment of subsequent knowledge in the automatic control field. Learning objectives are performance-oriented, using for this purpose interactive MATLAB and SIMULINK software tools. It presents realistic problems in order to analyze, design and develop automatic control systems. Learning with computing tools can aid theory and help students to think, analyze and reason in meaningful ways. The book is also complemented with classroom slides and MATLAB and SIMULINK exercise files to aid students to focus on fundamental concepts treated.

Anyone seeking a gentle introduction to the methods of modern control theory and engineering, written at the level of a first-year graduate course, should consider this book seriously. It contains: A generous historical overview of automatic control, from Ancient Greece to the 1970s, when this discipline matured into an essential field for electrical, mechanical, aerospace, chemical, and biomedical engineers, as well as mathematicians, and more recently, computer scientists; A balanced presentation of the relevant theory: the main state-space methods for description, analysis, and design of linear control systems are derived, without overwhelming theoretical arguments; Over 250 solved and exercise problems for both continuous- and discrete-time systems, often including MATLAB simulations; and Appendixes on MATLAB, advanced matrix theory, and the history of mathematical tools such as differential calculus, transform methods, and linear algebra. Another noteworthy feature is the frequent use of an inverted pendulum on a cart to illustrate the most important concepts of automatic control, such as: Linearization and discretization; Stability, controllability, and observability; State feedback, controller design, and optimal control; and Observer design, reduced order observers, and Kalman filtering. Most of the problems are given with solutions or MATLAB simulations. All MATLAB programs from the book are available on the enclosed CD. Whether the book is used as a textbook or as a self-study guide, the knowledge gained from it will be an excellent platform for students and practising engineers to explore further the recent developments and applications of control theory.

The atomic force microscope (AFM) has been successfully used to perform nanorobotic manipulation operations on nanoscale entities such as particles, nanotubes, nanowires, nanocrystals, and DNA since 1990s. There have been many progress on modeling, imaging, teleoperated or automated control, human-machine interfacing, instrumentation, and applications of AFM based nanorobotic manipulation systems in literature. This book aims to include all of such state-of-the-art progress in an organized, structured, and detailed manner as a reference book and also potentially a textbook in nanorobotics and any other nanoscale dynamics, systems and controls related research and education. Clearly written and well-organized, this text introduces designs and prototypes of the nanorobotic systems in detail with innovative principles of three-dimensional manipulation force microscopy and parallel imaging/manipulation force microscopy.

One of the key concerns in modern control theory is the design of steering strategies. The implementation of such strategies is done by a regulator. Presented here is a self-contained introduction to the mathematical background of this type of regulator design. The topics selected address the matter of greatest interest to the control community, at present, namely, when the design objective is the reduction of the influence of exogeneous disturbances upon the output of the system. In a first scenario the disturbance signal is regarded as a deterministic time series with known dynamics but unknown parameters. The design objective is then the asymptotic disturbance compensation. In a second scenario, no information about the disturbance signal is available apart from some bounds. Here, in an H-approach, control strategies are worked out which will prove efficient for all such disturbances. The intention of this book is to present ideas and methods on such a level that the beginning graduate student will be able to follow current research. New results are included, especially for nonlinear control systems, and as a service to the reader, an extensive appendix presents topics from linear algebra, invariant manifolds and calculus of variations, information which is hardly to be found in standard textbooks. Contents: Introduction * The problem of output regulation * Introduction * Problem statement * Output regulation via full information * Output regulation via full error feedback * A particular case * Well-posedness and robustness * The construction of a robust regulator * Disturbance attenuation via H-methods * Introduction * Problem statement * A characterization of the L2-gain of a linear system * Disturbance attenuation via full information * Disturbance attenuation via measured feedback * Full information regulators * Problem statement * Time-dependent control strategies * Examples * Time-independent control strategies * The local case * Nonlinear observers * Problem statement * Time-dependent observers * Error feedback regulators * Examples * Nonlinear H-techniques * Introduction * Construction of the saddle-point * The local scenario * Disturbance attenuation via linearization * Matrix equations * Linear matrix equations * Algebraic Riccati equations * Invariant manifolds * Existence theorem * Outflowing manifolds * Asymptotic phase * Convergence for T (1) * A special case * Dichotomies and Lyapunov functions * Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman-Isaacs equation * Introduction * Method of characteristics * The equation of Isaacs * The Hamiltonian version of Isaacs' equation * Bibliography

This book collects a number of important contributions presented during the Second Conference on Interdisciplinary Applications of Kinematics (IAK 2013) held in Lima, Peru. The conference brought together scientists from several research fields, such as computational kinematics, multibody systems, industrial machines, robotics, biomechanics, mechatronics, computational chemistry, and vibration analysis, and embraced all key aspects of kinematics, namely, theoretical methods, modeling, optimization, experimental validation, industrial applications, and design. Kinematics is an exciting area of computational mechanics and plays a central role in a great variety of fields and industrial applications nowadays. Apart from research in pure kinematics, the field deals with problems of practical relevance that need to be solved in an interdisciplinary manner in order for new technologies to develop. The results presented in this book should be of interest for practicing and research engineers as well as Ph.D. students from the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science, and computer graphics.

This authoritative reference work will provide readers with a complete overview of artificial intelligence (AI), including its historic development and current status, existing and projected AI applications, and present and potential future impact on the United States and the world. Some people believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize modern life in ways that improve human existence. Others say that the promise of AI is overblown. Still others contend that AI applications could pose a grave threat to the economic security of millions of people by taking their jobs and otherwise rendering them "obsolete"-or, even worse, that AI could actually spell the end of the human race. This volume will help users understand the reasons AI development has both spirited defenders and alarmed critics; explain theories and innovations like Moore's Law, mindcloning, and Technological Singularity that drive AI research and debate; and give readers the information they need to make their own informed judgment about the promise and peril of this technology. All of this coverage is presented using language and terminology accessible to a lay audience. Introduction explaining the historical evolution of AI Chronology of important AI-related events Authoritative entries on leading pioneers, entrepreneurs, and thinkers; AI concepts and theories; AI's potential impact on different facets of society; and major movies and other cultural touchstones exploring AI technology

Digitally Assisted Pipeline ADCs: Theory and Implementation explores the opportunity to reduce ADC power dissipation by leveraging digital signal processing capabilities in fine line integrated circuit technology. The described digitally assisted pipelined ADC uses a statistics-based system identification technique as an enabling element to replace precision residue amplifiers with simple open-loop gain stages. The digital compensation of analog circuit distortion eliminates one key factor in the classical noise-speed-linearity constraint loop and thereby enables a significant power reduction.
Digitally Assisted Pipeline ADCs: Theory and Implementation describes in detail the implementation and measurement results of a 12-bit, 75-MSample/sec proof-of-concept prototype. The Experimental converter achieves power savings greater than 60% over conventional implementations.
Digitally Assisted Pipeline ADCs: Theory and Implementation will be of interest to researchers and professionals interested in advances of state-of-the-art in A/D conversion techniques.

A complete, up-to-date textbook on an increasingly important subject

Robust Systems Theory and Applications covers both the techniques used in linear robust control analysis/synthesis and in robust (control-oriented) identification. The main analysis and design methods are complemented by elaborated examples and a group of worked-out applications that stress specific practical issues: nonlinearities, robustness against changes in operating conditions, uncertain infinite dimensional plants, and actuator and sensor limitations. Designed expressly as a textbook for master's and first-year PhD students, this volume:

• Introduces basic robustness concepts in the context of SISO systems described by Laplace transforms, establishing connections with well-known classical control techniques
• Presents the internal stabilization problem from two different points of view: algebraic and state —space
• Introduces the four basic problems in robust control and the Loop shaping design method Presents the optimal *2 control problem from a different viewpoint, including an analysis of the robustness properties of *2 controllers and a treatment of the generalized *2 problem
• Presents the *2 control problem using both the state-space approach developed in the late 1980s and a Linear Matrix Inequality approach (developed in the mid 1990s) that encompasses more general problems
• Discusses more general types of uncertainties (parametric and mixed type) and µµ-synthesis as a design tool
• Presents an overview of optimal ,1 control theory and covers the fundamentals of its star-norm approximation
• Presents the basic tools of model order reduction
• Provides a tutorial on robust identification
• Offers numerous end-of-chapter problems and worked-out examples of robust control

A recent development in SDC-related problems is the establishment of intelligent SDC models and the intensive use of LMI-based convex optimization methods. Within this theoretical framework, control parameter determination can be designed and stability and robustness of closed-loop systems can be analyzed. This book describes the new framework of SDC system design and provides a comprehensive description of the modelling of controller design tools and their real-time implementation. It starts with a review of current research on SDC and moves on to some basic techniques for modelling and controller design of SDC systems. This is followed by a description of controller design for fixed-control-structure SDC systems, PDF control for general input- and output-represented systems, filtering designs, and fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) for SDC systems. Many new LMI techniques being developed for SDC systems are shown to have independent theoretical significance for robust control and FDD problems.

The first Workshop on Mechanisms, Transmissions and Applications -- MeTrApp-2011 was organized by the Mechatronics Department at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty, "Politehnica" University of Timisoara, Romania, under the patronage of the IFToMM Technical Committees Linkages and Mechanical Controls and Micromachines. The workshop brought together researchers and students who work in disciplines associated with mechanisms science and offered a great opportunity for scientists from all over the world to present their achievements, exchange innovative ideas and create solid international links, setting the trend for future developments in this important and creative field. The topics treated in this volume are mechanisms and machine design, mechanical transmissions, mechatronic and biomechanic applications, computational and experimental methods, history of mechanism and machine science and teaching methods.

At publication, The Control Handbook immediately became the definitive resource that engineers working with modern control systems required. Among its many accolades, that first edition was cited by the AAP as the Best Engineering Handbook of 1996. Now, 15 years later, William Levine has once again compiled the most comprehensive and authoritative resource on control engineering. He has fully reorganized the text to reflect the technical advances achieved since the last edition and has expanded its contents to include the multidisciplinary perspective that is making control engineering a critical component in so many fields. Now expanded from one to three volumes, The Control Handbook, Second Edition organizes cutting-edge contributions from more than 200 leading experts. The second volume, Control System Applications, includes 35 entirely new applications organized by subject area. Covering the design and use of control systems, this volume includes applications for: Automobiles, including PEM fuel cells Aerospace Industrial control of machines and processes Biomedical uses, including robotic surgery and drug discovery and development Electronics and communication networks Other applications are included in a section that reflects the multidisciplinary nature of control system work. These include applications for the construction of financial portfolios, earthquake response control for civil structures, quantum estimation and control, and the modeling and control of air conditioning and refrigeration systems. As with the first edition, the new edition not only stands as a record of accomplishment in control engineering but provides researchers with the means to make further advances. Progressively organized, the other two volumes in the set include: Control System Fundamentals Control System Advanced Methods

The problem of robotic and virtual interaction with physical objects has been the subject of research for many years in both the robotic manipulation and haptics communities. Both communities have focused much attention on human touch-based perception and manipulation, modelling contact between real or virtual hands and objects, or mechanism design. However, as a whole, these problems have not yet been addressed from a unified perspective. This edited book is the outcome of a well-attended workshop which brought together leading scholars from various branches of the robotics, virtual-reality, and human studies communities during the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. It covers some of the most challenging problems on the forefront of today 's research on physical interaction with real and virtual objects, with special emphasis on modelling contacts between objects, grasp planning algorithms, haptic perception, and advanced design of hands, devices and interfaces.

The physical processes which initiate and maintain motion have been a major concern of serious investigation throughout the evolution of scientific thought. As early as the fifth century B. C. questions regarding motion were presented as touchstones for the most fundamental concepts about existence. Such wide ranging philosophical issues are beyond the scope of this book, however, consider the paradox of the flying arrow attri buted to Zeno of Elea: An arrow is shot from point A to point B requiring a sequence of time instants to traverse the distance. Now, for any time instant, T, of the sequence the arrow is at a position, Pi' and at Ti+! the i arrow is at Pi+i> with Pi ::I-P+* Clearly, each Ti must be a singular time i 1 unit at which the arrow is at rest at Pi because if the arrow were moving during Ti there would be a further sequence, Til' of time instants required for the arrow to traverse the smaller distance. Now, regardless of the level to which this recursive argument is applied, one is left with the flight of the arrow comprising a sequence of positions at which the arrow is at rest. The original intent of presenting this paradox has been interpreted to be as an argument against the possibility of individuated objects moving in space.

This book reflects the current industrial interest and investment in process control systems. The use of computer systems in process control can provide great benefits, and it is estimated that efficiency can be increased by up to 30%. It is not surprising, therefore, that there have been considerable efforts by system designers and users to introduce and use such systems. Process hardware is integrated into a complete production system through data processing. It is for this purpose that technical specialists (eg electrical, mechanical, electronics, communication and process engineers and programmers) are involved in data processing. The scope of this book is therefore to assist in the selction of computer hardware and software that match the functional specification of the data processing component of a particular system.

This book has been motivated by an urgent need for designing and implementation of innovative control algorithms and systems for tracked vehicles. Nowadays the unmanned vehicles are becoming more and more common. Therefore there is a need for innovative mechanical constructions capable of adapting to various applications regardless the ground, air or water/underwater environment. There are multiple various activities connected with tracked vehicles. They can be distributed among three main groups: design and control algorithms, sensoric and vision based in-formation, construction and testing mechanical parts of unmanned vehicles. Scientists and researchers involved in mechanics, control algorithms, image processing, computer vision, data fusion, or IC will find this book useful.

The purpose of this monograph is to give the broad aspects of nonlinear identification and control using neural networks. It consists of three parts:- an introduction to the fundamental principles of neural networks;- several methods for nonlinear identification using neural networks;- various techniques for nonlinear control using neural networks.A number of simulated and industrial examples are used throughout the monograph to demonstrate the operation of nonlinear identification and control techniques using neural networks. It should be emphasised that the methods and systems of nonlinear control have not progressed as rapidly as those for linear control. Comparatively speaking, at the present time, they are still in the development stage. We believe that the fundamental theory, various design methods and techniques, and several applications of nonlinear identification and control using neural networks that are presented in this monograph will enable the reader to analyse and synthesise nonlinear control systems quantitatively.

Features * Offers a hands-on tutorial on interactive dynamic-system modeling and simulation * Includes examples from physics, aerospace engineering, population dynamics, and physiology * Contains hints for selecting integration rules and step size * Provides a complete, industrial-strength simulation program package on an accompanying CD-ROM New to This Edition * Introduces a new vectorizing compiler for fast vector operations and parameter-influence studies * Incorporates a new treatment of the difference equation programs for modeling sampled-data control systems with digital controllers * Presents improved versions of several classical simulation programs to illustrate useful programming tricks Summary Showing you how to use personal computers for modeling and simulation, Interactive Dynamic-System Simulation, Second Edition provides a practical tutorial on interactive dynamic-system modeling and simulation. It discusses how to effectively simulate dynamical systems, such as aerospace vehicles, power plants, chemical processes, control systems, and physiological systems. Written by a pioneer in simulation, the book introduces dynamic-system models and explains how software for solving differential equations works. After demonstrating real simulation programs with simple examples, the author integrates a new treatment of the difference equation programs needed to model sampled-data control systems with digital controllers. Subsequent chapters provide detailed programming know-how. These chapters cover library, table-lookup, user-definable, limiter, switching, and noise functions; an experiment-protocol scripting language; powerful vector and matrix operations; and classical simulation programs that illustrate a number of useful programming tricks. The final chapter shows how experiment-protocol scripts and compiled DYNAMIC program segments can quickly solve mathematical problems, including fast graph plotting, Fourier transforms

With businesses becoming ever more competitive, marketing strategies need to be more precise and performance oriented. Companies are investing considerably in analytical infrastructure for marketing. This new volume, Marketing Analytics: A Machine Learning Approach, enlightens readers on the application of analytics in marketing and the process of analytics, providing a foundation on the concepts and algorithms of machine learning and statistics. The book simplifies analytics for businesses and explains its uses in different aspects of marketing in a way that even marketers with no prior analytics experience will find it easy to follow, giving them to tools to make better business decisions. This volume gives a comprehensive overview of marketing analytics, incorporating machine learning methods of data analysis that automates analytical model building. The volume covers the important aspects of marketing analytics, including segmentation and targeting analysis, statistics for marketing, marketing metrics, consumer buying behavior, neuromarketing techniques for consumer analytics, new product development, forecasting sales and price, web and social media analytics, and much more. This well-organized and straight-forward volume will be valuable for marketers, managers, decision makers, and research scholars, and faculty in business marketing and information technology and would also be suitable for classroom use.

Control Theory is at the heart of information and communication technologies of complex systems. It can contribute to meeting the energy and environmental challenges we are facing.

The textbook is organized in the way an engineer classically proceeds to solve a control problem, that is, elaboration of a mathematical model capturing the process behavior, analysis of this model and design of a control to achieve the desired objectives.

It is divided into three Parts. The first part of the text addresses modeling aspects through state space and input-output representations. The notion of the internal state of a system (for example mechanical, thermal or electrical), as well as its description using a finite number of variables, is also emphasized. The second part is devoted to the stability analysis of an equilibrium point. The authors present classical tools for stability analysis, such as linearization techniques and Lyapunov functions.

Central to Control Theory are the notions of feedback and of closed-loop, and the third part of the textbook describes the linear control synthesis in a continuous and discrete-time framework and also in a probabilistic context. Quadratic optimization and Kalman filtering are presented, as well as the polynomial representation, a convenient approach to reject perturbations on the system without making the control law more complex. Throughout the text, different examples are developed, both in the chapters and in the exercises.