Praise for Previous Volumes
"This book will be a useful reference to control engineers and researchers. The papers contained cover well the recent advances in the field of modern control theory."
-IEEE GROUP CORRESPONDENCE
"This book will help all those researchers who valiantly try to keep abreast of what is new in the theory and practice of optimal control."
-CONTROL

"Nonholonomic Motion Planning" grew out of the Workshop on Nonholonomic Motion Planning that took place at the 1991 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. It consists of contributed chapters representing new developments in this area. Contributors to the book include robotics engineers, nonlinear control experts, differential geometres and applied mathematics. The book is arranged around three chapter groups: controllability - one of the key mathematical tools needed to study nonholonomic motion; motion planning for mobile robots - focusing on problems with nonholonomic velocity constraints as well as constraints on the generalized co-ordinates; and falling cats, space robots and gauge theory. There are numerous connections to be made between symplectic geometry techniques for the study of holonomies in mechanics, gauge theory and control. In this section these connections are discussed using the backdrop of examples drawn from space robots and falling cats reorienting themselves. "Nonholonomic Motion Planning" can be used either as a reference for researchers working in the areas of robotics, nonlinear control and differential geometry, or as a textbook for a graduate level robotics or nonlinear control course.

"Robust Control of Robots" bridges the gap between robust control theory and applications, with a special focus on robotic manipulators. It is divided into three parts: robust control of regular, fully-actuated robotic manipulators;robust post-failure control of robotic manipulators; androbust control of cooperative robotic manipulators.

In each chapter the mathematical concepts are illustrated with experimental results obtained with a two-manipulator system. They are presented in enough detail to allow readers to implement the concepts in their own systems, or in Control Environment for Robots, a MATLAB(r)-based simulation program freely available from the authors.

The target audience for "Robust Control of Robots" includes researchers, practicing engineers, and graduate students interested in implementing robust and fault tolerant control methodologies to robotic manipulators.

The book emphasizes neural network structures for achieving practical and effective systems, and provides many examples. Practitioners, researchers, and students in industrial, manufacturing, electrical, mechanical, and production engineering will find this volume a unique and comprehensive reference source for diverse application methodologies.
Control and Dynamic Systems covers the important topics of highly effective Orthogonal Activation Function Based Neural Network System Architecture, multi-layer recurrent neural networks for synthesizing and implementing real-time linear control, adaptive control of unknown nonlinear dynamical systems, Optimal Tracking Neural Controller techniques, a consideration of unified approximation theory and applications, techniques for the determination of multi-variable nonlinear model structures for dynamic systems with a detailed treatment of relevant system model input determination, High Order Neural Networks and Recurrent High Order Neural Networks, High Order Moment Neural Array Systems, Online Learning Neural Network controllers, and Radial Bias Function techniques.
Key Features
Coverage includes:
* Orthogonal Activation Function Based Neural Network System Architecture (OAFNN)
* Multilayer recurrent neural networks for synthesizing and implementing real-time linear control
* Adaptive control of unknown nonlinear dynamical systems
* Optimal Tracking Neural Controller techniques
* Consideration of unified approximation theory and applications
* Techniques for determining multivariable nonlinear model structures for dynamic systems,
with a detailed treatment of relevant system model input determination

Traditionally, process design and control system design are performed sequentially. It is only recently displayed that a simultaneous approach to the design and control leads to significant economic benefits and improved dynamic performance during plant operation.

Extensive research in issues such as 'interactions of design and control', 'analysis and design of plant wide control systems', 'integrated methods for design and control' has resulted in impressive advances and significant new technologies that have enriched the variety of instruments available for the design engineer in her endeavour to design and operate new processes. The field of integrated process design and control has reached a maturity level that mingles the best from process knowledge and understanding and control theory on one side, with the best from numerical analysis and optimisation on the other. Direct implementation of integrated methods should soon become the mainstream design procedure.

Within this context 'The Integration of Process Design and Control', bringing together the developments in a variety of topics related to the integrated design and control, will be a real asset for design engineers, practitioners and researchers. Although the individual chapters reach a depth of analysis close to the frontier of current research status, the structure of the book and the autonomous nature of the chapters make the book suitable for a newcomer in the area.

The book comprises four distinct parts:
Part A: Process characterization and controllability analysis
Part B: Integrated process design and control ⊣ Methods
Part C: Plant wide interactions of design and control
Part D: Integrated process design and control ⊣ Extensions

By the end of the book, the reader will have developed a commanding comprehension of the main aspects of integrated design and control, the ability to critically assess the key characteristics and elements related to the interactions between design and control and the capacity to implement the new technology in practice.
* This book brings together the latest developments in a variety of topics related to integrated design and control.
* It is a valuable asset for design engineers, practitioners and researchers.
* The structure of the book and the nature of its chapters also make it suitable for a newcomer to the field.

Praise for Previous Volumes
"This book will be a useful reference to control engineers and researchers. The papers contained cover well the recent advances in the field of modern control theory."
-IEEE CONTROL CORRESPONDANCE
" This book will help all those researchers wjo valiantly try to keep abreast of what is new in the theory and practice of optimal control."
-CONTROL

Combining control theory and modeling, this textbook introduces and builds on methods for simulating and tackling concrete problems in a variety of applied sciences. Emphasizing "learning by doing," the authors focus on examples and applications to real-world problems. An elementary presentation of advanced concepts, proofs to introduce new ideas, and carefully presented MATLAB(r) programs help foster an understanding of the basics, but also lead the way to new, independent research.

With minimal prerequisites and exercises in each chapter, this work serves as an excellent textbook and referencefor graduate and advanced undergraduatestudents, researchers, and practitioners in mathematics, physics, engineering, computer science, as well as biology, biotechnology, economics, and finance."

Analysis and Control of Boolean Networks presents a systematic new approach to the investigation of Boolean control networks. The fundamental tool in this approach is a novel matrix product called the semi-tensor product (STP). Using the STP, a logical function can be expressed as a conventional discrete-time linear system. In the light of this linear expression, certain major issues concerning Boolean network topology - fixed points, cycles, transient times and basins of attractors - can be easily revealed by a set of formulae. This framework renders the state-space approach to dynamic control systems applicable to Boolean control networks. The bilinear-systemic representation of a Boolean control network makes it possible to investigate basic control problems including controllability, observability, stabilization, disturbance decoupling etc.

The Chemical Batch Reactor is aimed at tackling the above problems from a blending of academic and industrial perspectives. Advanced solutions (i.e., those based on recent research results) to the four fundamental problems of modeling, identification, control and fault diagnosis for batch processes are developed in detail in four distinct chapters. In each chapter, a general overview of foundational concepts is also given, together with a review of recent and classical literature on the various subjects.

To provide a unitary treatment of the different topics and give a firm link to the underlying practical applications, a single case study is developed as the book progresses; a batch process of industrial interest, i.e., the phenol-formaldehyde reaction for the production of phenolic resins, is adopted to test the various techniques developed. In this way, a roadmap of the solutions to fundamental problems, ranging from the early stages of the production process to the complete design of control and diagnosis systems, is provided for both industrial practitioners and academic researchers.

What is often referred to as industrial mathematics is becoming a more important focus of applied mathematics. An increased interest in undergraduate control theory courses for mathematics students is part of this trend. This is due to the fact that control theory is both quite mathematical and very important in applications." Introduction to Feedback Control" provides a rigorous introduction to input/output, controller design for linear systems to junior/senior level engineering and mathematics students. All explanations and most examples are single-input, single-output for ease of exposition. The student is assumed to have knowledge of linear ordinary differential equations and complex variables.
Written specifically for the undergraduate mathematics student
Concise and clear examples that illustrate theory
Author is faculty member at University of Waterloo; the largest mathematics department in the world
Contains exercises
Includes MATLAB

As technology continues to develop, certain innovations are beginning to cover a wide range of applications, specifically mobile robotic systems. The boundaries between the various automation methods and their implementations are not strictly defined, with overlaps occurring. Specificity is required regarding the research and development of android systems and how they pertain to modern science. Control and Signal Processing Applications for Mobile and Aerial Robotic Systems is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the current state of control and signal processing of portable robotic designs. While highlighting topics such as digital systems, control theory, and mathematical methods, this publication explores original inquiry contributions and the instrumentation of mechanical systems in the industrial and scientific fields. This book is ideally designed for technicians, engineers, industry specialists, researchers, academicians, and students seeking current research on today's execution of mobile robotic schemes.

Decentralized Control and Filtering provides a rigorous framework for examining the analysis, stability and control of large-scale systems, addressing the difficulties that arise because dimensionality, information structure constraints, parametric uncertainty and time-delays.This monograph serves three purposes: it reviews past methods and results from a contemporary perspective; it examines presents trends and approaches and to provide future possibilities; and it investigates robust, reliable and/or resilient decentralized design methods based on a framework of linear matrix inequalities. As well as providing an overview of large-scale systems theories from the past several decades, the author presents key modern concepts and efficient computational methods. Representative numerical examples, end-of-chapter problems, and typical system applications are included, and theoretical developments and practical applications of large-scale dynamical systems are discussed in depth.

Various general techniques have been developed for control and systems problems, many of which involve indirect methods. Because these indirect methods are not always effective, alternative approaches using direct methods are of particular interest and relevance given the advances of computing in recent years.The focus of this book, unique in the literature, is on direct methods, which are concerned with finding actual solutions to problems in control and systems, often algorithmic in nature. Throughout the work, deterministic and stochastic problems are examined from a unified perspective and with considerable rigor. Emphasis is placed on the theoretical basis of the methods and their potential utility in a broad range of control and systems problems.The book is an excellent reference for graduate students, researchers, applied mathematicians, and control engineers and may be used as a textbook for a graduate course or seminar on direct methods in control.

In recent years, automation has played a vital role in library systems that handle tasks of acquisition, cataloging, serials, and circulation. The automation of these operations has, in turn, minimised the demand for human interaction. Robots in Academic Libraries: Advancements in Library Automation provides an overview on the current state of library automation, addresses the need for changing personnel to accommodate these changes, and assesses the future for academic libraries as a whole. This book is essential for library leaders, technology experts, and library vendors interested in the future of library automation and its impact on the decline of human interaction in libraries.

Hereditary systems (or systems with either delay or after-effects) are widely used to model processes in physics, mechanics, control, economics and biology. An important element in their study is their stability. Stability conditions for difference equations with delay can be obtained using a Lyapunov functional.
Lyapunov Functionals and Stability of Stochastic Difference Equations describes a general method of Lyapunov functional construction to investigate the stability of discrete- and continuous-time stochastic Volterra difference equations. The method allows the investigation of the degree to which the stability properties of differential equations are preserved in their difference analogues.
The text is self-contained, beginning with basic definitions and the mathematical fundamentals of Lyapunov functional construction and moving on from particular to general stability results for stochastic difference equations with constant coefficients. Results are then discussed for stochastic difference equations of linear, nonlinear, delayed, discrete and continuous types. Examples are drawn from a variety of physical systems including inverted pendulum control, study of epidemic development, Nicholson s blowflies equation and predator prey relationships.
Lyapunov Functionals and Stability of Stochastic Difference Equations is primarily addressed to experts in stability theory but will also be of use in the work of pure and computational mathematicians and researchers using the ideas of optimal control to study economic, mechanical and biological systems.

Each of the chapters in this volume devotes considerable attention to defining and elaborating the notion of the frame problem-one of the "hard problems" of artificial intelligence. Not only do the chapters clarify the problems at hand, they shed light on the different approaches taken by those in artificial intelligence and by certain philosophers who have been concerned with related problems in their field. The book should therefore not be read merely as a discussion of the frame problem narrowly conceived, but also as a general analysis of what could be a major challenge to the design of computer systems exhibiting general intelligence.