Vehicles are complex mechanical systems with strong nonlinear characteristics and which can present some uncertainties due to their dynamic parameters such as masses, inertias, suspension springs, tires side slip coefficients, etc. A vehicle is composed of many parts, namely the unsprung mass, the sprung mass, the suspension which makes the link between these two masses and therefore ensures passenger comfort, and also the pneumatic which absorbs the energy coming from the road and ensures contact between the vehicle and the road. In addition to its complexity and the presence of many nonlinearities and uncertainties, the presence of some external perturbations, such as the wind and the road inputs with its own characteristics (radius of curvature, longitudinal and lateral slop, road profile and skid resistance) can cause risks not only to the vehicle but also to passengers and other road users. Many methods have been developed in order to understand the behavior of a vehicle ( light and heavy vehicle), control it and assist the driver in order to avoid possible lane departures, rollover or jackknifing risks, to ensure a better passenger comfort by means of a suspension control and/or to estimate a safety speed and trajectory.

This book reflects the latest developments in variable structure systems (VSS) and sliding mode control (SMC), highlighting advances in various branches of the VSS/SMC field, e.g., from conventional SMC to high-order SMC, from the continuous-time domain to the discrete-time domain, from theories to applications, etc. The book consists of three parts and 16 chapters: in the first part, new VSS/SMC algorithms are proposed and their properties are analyzed, while the second focuses on the use of VSS/SMC techniques to solve a variety of control problems; the third part examines the applications of VSS/SMC to real-time systems. The book introduces postgraduates and researchers to the state-of-the-art in VSS/SMC field, including the theory, methodology, and applications. Relative academic disciplines include Automation, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Instrument Science and Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Computer Science and Technology, Transportation Engineering, Energy and Power Engineering, etc.

The book reports on the latest advances and applications of nonlinear control systems. It consists of 30 contributed chapters by subject experts who are specialized in the various topics addressed in this book. The special chapters have been brought out in the broad areas of nonlinear control systems such as robotics, nonlinear circuits, power systems, memristors, underwater vehicles, chemical processes, observer design, output regulation, backstepping control, sliding mode control, time-delayed control, variables structure control, robust adaptive control, fuzzy logic control, chaos, hyperchaos, jerk systems, hyperjerk systems, chaos control, chaos synchronization, etc. Special importance was given to chapters offering practical solutions, modeling and novel control methods for the recent research problems in nonlinear control systems. This book will serve as a reference book for graduate students and researchers with a basic knowledge of electrical and control systems engineering. The resulting design procedures on the nonlinear control systems are emphasized using MATLAB software.

Increasing complexity and performance and reliability expectations make modeling of automotive system both more difficult and more urgent. Automotive control has slowly evolved from an add-on to classical engine and vehicle design to a key technology to enforce consumption, pollution and safety limits. Modeling, however, is still mainly based on classical methods, even though much progress has been done in the identification community to speed it up and improve it. This book, the product of a workshop of representatives of different communities, offers an insight on how to close the gap and exploit this progress for the next generations of vehicles.

Complexity, Analysis and Control of Singular Biological Systems follows the control of real-world biological systems at both ecological and phyisological levels concentrating on the application of now-extensively-investigated singular system theory. Much effort has recently been dedicated to the modelling and analysis of developing bioeconomic systems and the text establishes singular examples of these, showing how proper control can help to maintain sustainable economic development of biological resources. The book begins from the essentials of singular systems theory and bifurcations before tackling the use of various forms of control in singular biological systems using examples including predator-prey relationships and viral vaccination and quarantine control. Researchers and graduate students studying the control of complex biological systems are shown how a variety of methods can be brought to bear and practitioners working with the economics of biological systems and their control will also find the monograph illuminating.

Sensor networks have recently come into prominence because they hold the potential to revolutionize a wide spectrum of both civilian and military applications. An ingenious characteristic of sensor networks is the distributed nature of data acquisition. Therefore they seem to be ideally prepared for the task of monitoring processes with spatio-temporal dynamics which constitute one of most general and important classes of systems in modelling of the real-world phenomena. It is clear that careful deployment and activation of sensor nodes are critical for collecting the most valuable information from the observed environment. Optimal Sensor Network Scheduling in Identification of Distributed Parameter Systems discusses the characteristic features of the sensor scheduling problem, analyzes classical and recent approaches, and proposes a wide range of original solutions, especially dedicated for networks with mobile and scanning nodes. Both researchers and practitioners will find the case studies, the proposed algorithms, and the numerical examples to be invaluable.

Saturation nonlinearities are ubiquitous in engineering systems: every physical actuator or sensor is subject to saturation owing to its maximum and minimum limits. Input saturation is an operating condition that is well known to the control community for its “side effects”, which cause conventional controllers to lose their closed-loop performance as well as control authority in stabilization. Therefore, the practical application of control theory cannot avoid taking into account saturation nonlinearities in actuators, explicitly dealing with constraints in control design.

This volume is concerned with the control and dynamics of time delay systems; a research field with at least six-decade long history that has been very active especially in the past two decades. In parallel to the new challenges emerging from engineering, physics, mathematics, and economics, the volume covers several new directions including topology induced stability, large-scale interconnected systems, roles of networks in stability, and new trends in predictor-based control and consensus dynamics. The associated applications/problems are described by highly complex models, and require solving inverse problems as well as the development of new theories, mathematical tools, numerically-tractable algorithms for real-time control. The volume, which is targeted to present these developments in this rapidly evolving field, captures a careful selection of the most recent papers contributed by experts and collected under five parts: (i) Methodology: From Retarded to Neutral Continuous Delay Models, (ii) Systems, Signals and Applications, (iii): Numerical Methods, (iv) Predictor-based Control and Compensation, and (v) Networked Control Systems and Multi-agent Systems.

Robot Motion Control 2011 presents very recent results in robot motion and control. Forty short papers have been chosen from those presented at the sixth International Workshop on Robot Motion and Control held in Poland in June 2011. The authors of these papers have been carefully selected and represent leading institutions in this field. The following recent developments are discussed: Design of trajectory planning schemes for holonomic and nonholonomic systems with optimization of energy, torque limitations and other factors. New control algorithms for industrial robots, nonholonomic systems and legged robots. Different applications of robotic systems in industry and everyday life, like medicine, education, entertainment and others. Multiagent systems consisting of mobile and flying robots with their applications The book is suitable for graduate students of automation and robotics, informatics and management, mechatronics, electronics and production engineering systems as well as scientists and researchers working in these fields.

The theory of linear functional observers, which is the subject of this book, is increasingly becoming a popular researched topic because of the many advantages it presents in state observation and control system design. This book presents recent information on the current state of the art research in this field. This book will serve as a useful reference to researchers in this area of research to understand the fundamental concepts relevant to the theory of functional observers and to gather most recent advancements in the field. This book is useful to academics and postgraduate students researching into the theory of linear functional observers. This book can also be useful for specialized final year undergraduate courses in control systems engineering and applied mathematics with a research focus.