Series editors’ foreword

Abstract

The series Advances in Industrial Control aims to report and encourage technology transfer in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. New theory, new controllers, actuators, sensors, new industrial processes, computer methods, new applications, new philosophies..., new challenges. Much of this development work resides in industrial reports, feasibility study papers and the reports of advanced collaborative projects. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of such new work in all aspects of industrial control for wider and rapid dissemination. This new monograph by Alberto Isidori, Lorenzo Marconi and Andrea Serrani concerns nonlinear systems, robust control design and detailed applications studies. The opening chapter is a challenging development of a robust design theory, firstly performed with a linear system description and then followed by the nonlinear system control design extensions. The presentation is succinct, brisk and with depth. The mathematics here make precise some common industrial control design situations and the objective is a robust control design procedure which is analogous to “the classical way in which integral-control-based schemes cope with constant but unknown disturbances”. The applications for the newly devised robust controller design procedures are Low Earth Orbit (LEO) control, Vertical Take-Off and Landing Control (tracking and stabilizer) and helicopter control. Four very detailed chapters, one for each application, present review material, design insights, and finally simulation results. These are all difficult highperformance uncertain control system design exercises which make this an excellent and distinguished entry to the Advances in Industrial Control monograph series. One of the objectives of the series is to introduce readers to techniques which might be appropriate for application in other areas of industrial control. The first chapter of this monograph prescribes a new robust control procedure which could easily be considered for application in other areas. As such both control systems academics and industrial control engineers will find this presentation and the subsequent applications intriguing, illuminating and inspiring.