This book aims to propose implementations and applications of Fractional Order Systems (FOS). It is well known that FOS can be applied in control applications and systems modeling, and their effectiveness has been proven in many theoretical works and simulation routines. A further and mandatory step for FOS real world utilization is their hardware implementation and applications on real systems modeling. With this viewpoint, introductive chapters on FOS are included, on the definition of stability region of Fractional Order PID Controller and Chaotic FOS, followed by the practical implementation based on Microcontroller, Field Programmable Gate Array, Field Programmable Analog Array and Switched Capacitor. Another section is dedicated to FO modeling of Ionic Polymeric Metal Composite (IPMC). This new material may have applications in robotics, aerospace and biomedicine.

In the last decade new artificial intelligence methods for the modelling and control of complex systems, namely neural networks, fuzzy logic and probabilistic reasoning have drawn the interest of researchers and engineers. Recently, the advantages achievable by using combinations of these methods, which have independent origin and evolution, have been pointed out, generating a new paradigm which is now termed "soft-computing". This new methodology subsumes the capabilities of neural networks for modelling non-linear systems and for solving classification problems, the power of fuzzy-logic to represent approximate or heuristic reasoning and the large capabilities of evolutionary computation for problem optimisation. The book presents a clear understanding of a new type of computation system, the cellular neural network (CNN), which has been successfully applied to the solution of many heavy computation problems, mainly in the fields of image processing and complex partial differential equations. CNNs' computation-based systems represent new opportunities for improving the soft-computation toolbox. The application of soft computing to complex systems and in particular to chaotic systems with the generation of chaotic dynamics by using CNN is also described. These aspects are of particular interest owing to their growing interest for research and application purposes.Specific topics covered in the text include:- fuzzy logic, control and neural networks;- artificial neural networks and their application in the modelling and control of dynamical systems;- evolutionary optimisation algorithms;- complex dynamics and cellular neural networks;- applications in urban traffic noise monitoring, robot control and rapid thermal process systems.

This book focuses on the research topics investigated during the three-year research project funded by the Italian Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MIUR: Ministry of Education, University and Research) under the FIRB project RBNE01CW3M. With the aim of introducing newer perspectives of the research on complexity, the final results of the project are presented after a general introduction to the subject. The book is intended to provide researchers, PhD students, and people involved in research projects in companies with the basic fundamentals of complex systems and the advanced project results recently obtained.