Robotic marine vessels can be used for a wide range of purposes, including defence, marine science, offshore energy and hydrographic surveys, and environmental surveys and protection. Such vessels need to meet a variety of criteria: they must be able to operate in salt water, and to communicate and be controlled over large distances, even when submerged or in inclement weather. Further challenges include 3D navigation of individual vehicles, groups or squadrons. This book covers the current state of research in navigation, modelling and control of marine autonomous vehicles, and deals with various related topics, including collision avoidance, communication, and a range of applications. It provides valuable insights for an audience of researchers, academics and postgraduate students interested in autonomous marine vessels, robotics, and electrical and automobile engineering.

The book reports on advanced topics in interactive robotics research and practice; in particular, it addresses non-technical obstacles to the broadest uptake of these technologies. It focuses on new technologies that can physically and cognitively interact with humans, including neural interfaces, soft wearable robots, and sensor and actuator technologies; further, it discusses important regulatory challenges, including but not limited to business models, standardization, education and ethical-legal-socioeconomic issues. Gathering the outcomes of the 1st INBOTS Conference (INBOTS2018), held on October 16-20, 2018 in Pisa, Italy, the book addresses the needs of a broad audience of academics and professionals working in government and industry, as well as end users. In addition to providing readers with detailed information and a source of inspiration for new projects and collaborations, it discusses representative case studies highlighting practical challenges in the implementation of interactive robots in a number of fields, as well as solutions to improve communication between different stakeholders. By merging engineering, medical, ethical and political perspectives, the book offers a multidisciplinary, timely snapshot of interactive robotics.

This book deals with a combination of two main problems for the first time. They are saturation on control and on the rate (or increment) of the control, and the solution of unsymmetrical saturation on the control by LMIs. It treats linear systems in state space form, in both the continuous- and discrete-time domains. Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for autonomous linear systems with constrained state increment or rate, such that the system evolves respecting incremental or rate constraints if any. A pole assignment technique is then used to solve the problem, giving stabilizing state feedback controllers that respect non-symmetrical constraints on control alone or on both control and its increment or rate. Illustrative examples show the application of these methods on academic examples or on such real plant models as the double integrator system. This problem is then extended to various others including: systems with constraints and perturbations; singular systems with constrained control; systems with unsymmetrical saturations; saturated systems with delay, and 2-D systems with saturations. The solutions obtained are of two types: necessary and sufficient conditions solved with linear programming techniques; and sufficient conditions under LMIs. A new approach extends existing techniques for dealing with symmetrical saturations to take direct account of unsymmetrical saturations into account with LMIs. This tool enables the authors to obtain new results on continuous- and discrete-time systems. The book uses illustrative examples and figures and provides many comparisons with existing results. Systems theoreticians interested in multidimensional systems and practitioners working with saturated and constrained controllers will find the research and background presented in Saturated Control of Linear Systems to be of considerable interest in helping them overcome problems with their plant and in stimulating further research.

Most physical systems possess parametric uncertainties or unmeasurable parameters and, since parametric uncertainty may degrade the performance of model predictive control (MPC), mechanisms to update the unknown or uncertain parameters are desirable in application. One possibility is to apply adaptive extensions of MPC in which parameter estimation and control are performed online. This book proposes such an approach, with a design methodology for adaptive robust nonlinear MPC (NMPC) systems in the presence of disturbances and parametric uncertainties. One of the key concepts pursued is the concept of set-based adaptive parameter estimation, which provides a mechanism to estimate the unknown parameters as well as an estimate of the parameter uncertainty set. The knowledge of non-conservative uncertain set estimates is exploited in the design of robust adaptive NMPC algorithms that guarantee robustness of the NMPC system to parameter uncertainty. Topics covered include: a review of nonlinear MPC; extensions for performance improvement; introduction to adaptive robust MPC; computational aspects of robust adaptive MPC; finite-time parameter estimation in adaptive control; performance improvement in adaptive control; adaptive MPC for constrained nonlinear systems; adaptive MPC with disturbance attenuation; robust adaptive economic MPC; setbased estimation in discrete-time systems; and robust adaptive MPC for discrete-time systems.

This book presents the outcomes of the 16th International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence Research, Management and Applications (SERA 2018), which was held in Kunming, China on June 13-15, 2018. The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers and scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, computer users, and students to discuss the various fields of computer science, to share their experiences, and to exchange new ideas and information in a meaningful way. The book includes findings on all aspects (theory, applications and tools) of computer and information science, and discusses related practical challenges and the solutions adopted to solve them. The conference organizers selected the best papers from those accepted for presentation. The papers were chosen based on review scores submitted by members of the program committee and underwent a further rigorous round of review. From this second round, 13 of the conference's most promising papers were then published in this Springer (SCI) book and not the conference proceedings. We eagerly await the important contributions that we know these authors will make to the field of computer and information science.

This book addresses the topic of fractional-order modeling of nuclear reactors. Approaching neutron transport in the reactor core as anomalous diffusion, specifically subdiffusion, it starts with the development of fractional-order neutron telegraph equations. Using a systematic approach, the book then examines the development and analysis of various fractional-order models representing nuclear reactor dynamics, ultimately leading to the fractional-order linear and nonlinear control-oriented models. The book utilizes the mathematical tool of fractional calculus, the calculus of derivatives and integrals with arbitrary non-integer orders (real or complex), which has recently been found to provide a more compact and realistic representation to the dynamics of diverse physical systems. Including extensive simulation results and discussing important issues related to the fractional-order modeling of nuclear reactors, the book offers a valuable resource for students and researchers working in the areas of fractional-order modeling and control and nuclear reactor modeling.

This book presents up-to-date research developments and novel methodologies on semi-Markovian jump systems (S-MJS). It presents solutions to a series of problems with new approaches for the control and filtering of S-MJS, including stability analysis, sliding mode control, dynamic output feedback control, robust filter design, and fault detection. A set of newly developed techniques such as piecewise analysis method, positively invariant set approach, event-triggered method, and cone complementary linearization approaches are presented. Control and Filtering for Semi-Markovian Jump Systems is a comprehensive reference for researcher and practitioners working in control engineering, system sciences and applied mathematics, and is also a useful source of information for senior undergraduates and graduates in these areas. The readers will benefit from some new concepts, new models and new methodologies with practical significance in control engineering and signal processing.

This book presents state-of-the-art research advances in the field of biologically inspired cooperative control theories and their applications. It describes various biologically inspired cooperative control and optimization approaches and highlights real-world examples in complex industrial processes. Multidisciplinary in nature and closely integrating theory and practice, the book will be of interest to all university researchers, control engineers and graduate students in intelligent systems and control who wish to learn the core principles, methods, algorithms, and applications.

This book describes load modeling approaches for complex work pieces and batch forgings, and demonstrates analytical modeling and data-driven modeling approaches for known and unknown complex forging processes. It overcomes the current shortcomings of modeling, analysis and control approaches, presenting contributions in three major areas: In the first, several novel modeling approaches are proposed: a process/shape-decomposition modeling method to help estimate the deformation force; an online probabilistic learning machine for the modeling of batch forging processes; and several data-driven identification and modeling approaches for unknown forging processes under different work conditions. The second area develops model-based dynamic analysis methods to derive the conditions of stability and creep. Lastly, several novel intelligent control methods are proposed for complex forging processes. One of the most serious problems in forging forming involves the inaccurate forging conditions, velocity and position offered by the hydraulic actuator due to the complexity of both the deformation process of the metal work piece and the motion process of the hydraulic actuator. The book summarizes the current weaknesses of modeling, analysis and control approaches. are summarized as follows: a) With the current modeling approaches it is difficult to model complex forging processes with unknown parameters, as they only model the dynamics in local working areas but do not effectively model unknown nonlinear systems across multiple working areas; further, they do not take the batch forging process into account, let alone its distribution modeling. b) All previous dynamic analysis studies simplify the forging system to having a single-frequency pressure fluctuation and neglect the influences of non-linear load force. Further, they fail to take the flow equation in both valves and cylinders into account. c) Conventional control approaches only consider the linear deformation force and pay no attention to sudden changes and the motion synchronization for the multi-cylinder system, making them less effective for complex, nonlinear time-varying forging processes subject to sudden changes.

Active Disturbance Rejection Control of Dynamic Systems: A Flatness Based Approach describes the linear control of uncertain nonlinear systems. The net result is a practical controller design that is simple and surprisingly robust, one that also guarantees convergence to small neighborhoods of desired equilibria or tracking errors that are as close to zero as desired. This methodology differs from current robust feedback controllers characterized by either complex matrix manipulations, complex parameter adaptation schemes and, in other cases, induced high frequency noises through the classical chattering phenomenon. The approach contains many of the cornerstones, or philosophical features, of Model Free Control and ADRC, while exploiting flatness and GPI control in an efficient manner for linear, nonlinear, mono-variable and multivariable systems, including those exhibiting inputs delays. The book contains successful experimental laboratory case studies of diverse engineering problems, especially those relating to mechanical, electro-mechanical, robotics, mobile robotics and power electronics systems.

In two parts, this book describes the evolution of mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) imager structures based upon published patents and patent applications. The first part covers monolithic arrays, and the second part describes hybrid arrays. Each part has 5 chapters, with each document placed in chronological order, with the documents with the earliest priority placed first. Focus has been directed at the steps of manufacturing and structures of imagers.

There is an index at the end of the book containing the patent number, the name of the applicant and the date of publication of each cited document.

This monograph will serve as a useful summary of the patents and patent applications in the field of mercury cadmium telluride imagers.

This book introduces researchers and advanced students with a basic control systems background to an array of control techniques which they can easily implement and use to meet the required performance specifications for their mechatronic applications. It is the result of close to two decades of work of the authors on modeling, simulating and controlling different mechatronic systems from the motion control, automotive control and micro and nano-mechanical systems control areas. The methods presented in the book have all been tested by the authors and a very large group of researchers, who have produced practically implementable controllers with highly successful results. The approach that is recommended in this book is to first start with a conventional control method which may then be cascaded with a feedforward controller if the input is known or can be measured with a preview; to add a disturbance observer if unknown disturbances are to be rejected and if regulation of the uncertain plant about a nominal model is desired; and to add a repetitive controller to take care of any periodic inputs of fixed and known period. Case studies ranging from road vehicle yaw stability control and automated path following, to decoupling control of piezotube actuators in an atomic force microscope are presented. Parameter space based methods are used in the book for achieving robust controllers. Control of Mechatronic Systems is essential reading for researchers and advanced students who want to be exposed to control methods that have been field tested in a wide variety of mechatronic applications, and for practicing engineers who design and implement feedback control systems.

Interest in the area of control of systems defined by partial differential Equations has increased strongly in recent years. A major reason has been the requirement of these systems for sensible continuum mechanical modelling and optimization or control techniques which account for typical physical phenomena. Particular examples of problems on which substantial progress has been made are the control and stabilization of mechatronic structures, the control of growth of thin films and crystals, the control of Laser and semi-conductor devices, and shape optimization problems for turbomachine blades, shells, smart materials and microdiffractive optics. This volume contains original articles by world reknowned experts in the fields of optimal control of partial differential equations, shape optimization, numerical methods for partial differential equations and fluid dynamics, all of whom have contributed to the analysis and solution of many of the problems discussed. The collection provides a state-of-the-art overview of the most challenging and exciting recent developments in the field. It is geared towards postgraduate students and researchers dealing with the theoretical and practical aspects of a wide variety of high technology problems in applied mathematics, fluid control, optimal design, and computer modelling.

This book provides a general and comprehensible overview of imbalanced learning. It contains a formal description of a problem, and focuses on its main features, and the most relevant proposed solutions. Additionally, it considers the different scenarios in Data Science for which the imbalanced classification can create a real challenge. This book stresses the gap with standard classification tasks by reviewing the case studies and ad-hoc performance metrics that are applied in this area. It also covers the different approaches that have been traditionally applied to address the binary skewed class distribution. Specifically, it reviews cost-sensitive learning, data-level preprocessing methods and algorithm-level solutions, taking also into account those ensemble-learning solutions that embed any of the former alternatives. Furthermore, it focuses on the extension of the problem for multi-class problems, where the former classical methods are no longer to be applied in a straightforward way. This book also focuses on the data intrinsic characteristics that are the main causes which, added to the uneven class distribution, truly hinders the performance of classification algorithms in this scenario. Then, some notes on data reduction are provided in order to understand the advantages related to the use of this type of approaches. Finally this book introduces some novel areas of study that are gathering a deeper attention on the imbalanced data issue. Specifically, it considers the classification of data streams, non-classical classification problems, and the scalability related to Big Data. Examples of software libraries and modules to address imbalanced classification are provided. This book is highly suitable for technical professionals, senior undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of data science, computer science and engineering. It will also be useful for scientists and researchers to gain insight on the current developments in this area of study, as well as future research directions.

This book reports on the latest advances in the study of motion control in biomimetic swimming robots with high speed and high manoeuvrability. It presents state-of-the-art studies on various swimming robots including robotic fish, dolphins and jellyfish in a unified framework, and discusses the potential benefits of applying biomimetic underwater propulsion to autonomous underwater vehicle design, such as: speed, energy economy, enhanced manoeuvrability, and reduced detectability. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to researchers, engineers and graduate students in robotics and ocean engineering who wish to learn about the core principles, methods, algorithms, and applications of biomimetic underwater robots.

Control of Discrete-Time Descriptor Systems takes an anisotropy-based approach to the explanation of random input disturbance with an information-theoretic representation. It describes the random input signal more precisely, and the anisotropic norm minimization included in the book enables readers to tune their controllers better through the mathematical methods provided. The book contains numerous examples of practical applications of descriptor systems in various fields, from robotics to economics, and presents an information-theoretic approach to the mathematical description of coloured noise. Anisotropy-based analysis and design for descriptor systems is supplied along with proofs of basic statements, which help readers to understand the algorithms proposed, and to undertake their own numerical simulations. This book serves as a source of ideas for academic researchers and postgraduate students working in the control of discrete-time systems. The control design procedures outlined are numerically effective and easily implementable in MATLAB (R)

Robust and Fault-Tolerant Control proposes novel automatic control strategies for nonlinear systems developed by means of artificial neural networks and pays special attention to robust and fault-tolerant approaches. The book discusses robustness and fault tolerance in the context of model predictive control, fault accommodation and reconfiguration, and iterative learning control strategies. Expanding on its theoretical deliberations the monograph includes many case studies demonstrating how the proposed approaches work in practice. The most important features of the book include: a comprehensive review of neural network architectures with possible applications in system modelling and control; a concise introduction to robust and fault-tolerant control; step-by-step presentation of the control approaches proposed; an abundance of case studies illustrating the important steps in designing robust and fault-tolerant control; and a large number of figures and tables facilitating the performance analysis of the control approaches described. The material presented in this book will be useful for researchers and engineers who wish to avoid spending excessive time in searching neural-network-based control solutions. It is written for electrical, computer science and automatic control engineers interested in control theory and their applications. This monograph will also interest postgraduate students engaged in self-study of nonlinear robust and fault-tolerant control.

This book gathers the peer-reviewed proceedings of the 12th Annual Meeting of the Bulgarian Section of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, BGSIAM'17, held in Sofia, Bulgaria, in December 2017. The general theme of BGSIAM'17 was industrial and applied mathematics, with a particular focus on: high-performance computing, numerical methods and algorithms, analysis of partial differential equations and their applications, mathematical biology, control and uncertain systems, stochastic models, molecular dynamics, neural networks, genetic algorithms, metaheuristics for optimization problems, generalized nets, and Big Data.

This book reports on the formulation of a multi-stage optimization framework for the Danish power system, taking into account the real operational cost, the voltage constraints and the uncertainty associated to the forecasting errors of the wind power. It describes in detail the implementation of this framework into a simulation platform and its validation in real-world applications. The book especially focuses on automatic voltage control systems and on methods to handle uncertainty in them. All in all, it provides readers with a comprehensive overview of power system optimization and future trends in power system operation.

This monograph combines the commutant lifting theorem for operator theory and the state space method from system theory to provide a unified approach for solving both stationary and nonstationary interpolation problems with norm constraints. Included are the operator-valued versions of the tangential Nevanlinna-Pick problem, the Hermite-FejA(c)r problem, the Nehari problem, the Sarason problem, and the two-sided Nudelman problem, and their nonstationary analogues. The main results concern the existence of solutions, the explicit construction of the central solutions in state space form, the maximum entropy property of the central solutions, and state space parametrizations of all solutions. Direct connections between the various interpolation problems are displayed. Applications to H infinity] control problems are presented. This monograph should appeal to a wide group of mathematicians and engineers. The material is self-contained and may be used for advanced graduate courses and seminars.

This book presents state-of-the-art computational attention models that have been successfully tested in diverse application areas and can build the foundation for artificial systems to efficiently explore, analyze, and understand natural scenes. It gives a comprehensive overview of the most recent computational attention models for processing visual and acoustic input. It covers the biological background of visual and auditory attention, as well as bottom-up and top-down attentional mechanisms and discusses various applications. In the first part new approaches for bottom-up visual and acoustic saliency models are presented and applied to the task of audio-visual scene exploration of a robot. In the second part the influence of top-down cues for attention modeling is investigated.

This book focuses on the latest applications of nonlinear approaches in engineering and addresses a range of scientific problems. Examples focus on issues in automotive technology, including automotive dynamics, control for electric and hybrid vehicles, and autodriver algorithm for autonomous vehicles. Also included are discussions on renewable energy plants, data modeling, driver-aid methods, and low-frequency vibration. Chapters are based on invited contributions from world-class experts who advance the future of engineering by discussing the development of more optimal, accurate, efficient, cost, and energy effective systems. This book is appropriate for researchers, students, and practising engineers who are interested in the applications of nonlinear approaches to solving engineering and science problems. Presents a broad range of practical topics and approaches; Explains approaches to better, safer, and cheaper systems; Emphasises automotive applications, physical meaning, and methodologies.

The primary aim of this volume is to provide researchers and engineers from both academia and industry with up-to-date coverage of recent advances in the fields of robotic welding, intelligent systems and automation. It gathers selected papers from the 2018 International Conference on Robotic Welding, Intelligence and Automation (RWIA 2018), held Oct 20-22, 2018 in Guangzhou, China. The contributions reveal how intelligentized welding manufacturing (IWM) is becoming an inescapable trend, just as intelligentized robotic welding is becoming a key technology. The volume is divided into four main parts: Intelligent Techniques for Robotic Welding, Sensing in Arc Welding Processing, Modeling and Intelligent Control of Welding Processing, and Intelligent Control and its Applications in Engineering.

Wheeled Mobile Robotics: From Fundamentals Towards Autonomous Systemscovers the main topics from the wide area of mobile robotics, explaining all applied theory and application. The book gives the reader a good foundation, enabling them to continue to more advanced topics. Several examples are included for better understanding, many of them accompanied by short MATLAB (R) script code making it easy to reuse in practical work. The book includes several examples of discussed methods and projects for wheeled mobile robots and some advanced methods for their control and localization. It is an ideal resource for those seeking an understanding of robotics, mechanics, and control, and for engineers and researchers in industrial and other specialized research institutions in the field of wheeled mobile robotics. Beginners with basic math knowledge will benefit from the examples, and engineers with an understanding of basic system theory and control will find it easy to follow the more demanding fundamental parts and advanced methods explained.