This self-contained book presents in a unified, systematic way the basic principles of optimal control governed by ODEs. Using a variational perspective, the author incorporates important restrictions like constraints for control and state, as well as the state system itself, into the equivalent variational reformulation of the problem. The fundamental issues of existence of optimal solutions, optimality conditions, and numerical approximation are then examined from this variational viewpoint. Inside, readers will find a unified approach to all the basic issues of optimal control, academic and real-world examples testing the book’s variational approach, and a rigorous treatment stressing ideas and arguments rather than the underlying mathematical formalism. A Variational Approach to Optimal Control of ODEs is mainly for applied analysts, applied mathematicians, and control engineers, but will also be helpful to other scientists and engineers who want to understand the basic principles of optimal control governed by ODEs. It requires no prerequisites in variational problems or expertise in numerical approximation. It can be used for a first course in optimal control.

From the reviews: "The style of the book reflects the author’s wish to assist in the effective learning of optimal control by suitable choice of topics, the mathematical level used, and by including numerous illustrated examples. . . .In my view the book suits its function and purpose, in that it gives a student a comprehensive coverage of optimal control in an easy-to-read fashion." —Measurement and Control

This textbook offers a concise yet rigorous introduction to calculus of variations and optimal control theory, and is a self-contained resource for graduate students in engineering, applied mathematics, and related subjects. Designed specifically for a one-semester course, the book begins with calculus of variations, preparing the ground for optimal control. It then gives a complete proof of the maximum principle and covers key topics such as the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman theory of dynamic programming and linear-quadratic optimal control. Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control Theory also traces the historical development of the subject and features numerous exercises, notes and references at the end of each chapter, and suggestions for further study. Offers a concise yet rigorous introduction Requires limited background in control theory or advanced mathematics Provides a complete proof of the maximum principle Uses consistent notation in the exposition of classical and modern topics Traces the historical development of the subject Solutions manual (available only to teachers) Leading universities that have adopted this book include: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ECE 553: Optimum Control Systems Georgia Institute of Technology ECE 6553: Optimal Control and Optimization University of Pennsylvania ESE 680: Optimal Control Theory University of Notre Dame EE 60565: Optimal Control

This book introduces optimal control methods, formulated as optimization problems, applied to business dynamics problems. Business dynamics refers to a combination of business management and financial objectives embedded in a dynamical system model. The model is subject to a control that optimizes a performance index and takes both management and financial aspects into account. Business Dynamics Models: Optimization-Based One Step Ahead Optimal Control includes solutions that provide a rationale for the use of optimal control and guidelines for further investigation into more complex models, as well as formulations that can also be used in a so-called flight simulator mode to investigate different complex scenarios. The text offers a modern programming environment (Jupyter notebooks in JuMP/Julia) for modeling, simulation, and optimization, and Julia code and notebooks are provided on a website for readers to experiment with their own examples. This book is intended for students majoring in applied mathematics, business, and engineering. The authors use a formulation-algorithm-example approach, rather than the classical definition-theorem-proof, making the material understandable to senior undergraduates and beginning graduates.

Extremum Seeking through Delays and PDEs, the first book on the topic, expands the scope of applicability of the extremum seeking method, from static and finite-dimensional systems to infinite-dimensional systems. Readers will find numerous algorithms for model-free real-time optimization are developed and their convergence guaranteed, extensions from single-player optimization to noncooperative games, under delays and PDEs, are provided, the delays and PDEs are compensated in the control designs using the PDE backstepping approach, and stability is ensured using infinite-dimensional versions of averaging theory, and accessible and powerful tools for analysis. This book is intended for control engineers in all disciplines (electrical, mechanical, aerospace, chemical), mathematicians, physicists, biologists, and economists. It is appropriate for graduate students, researchers, and industrial users.

The intention of this textbook is to provide both, the theoretical and computational tools that are necessary to investigate and to solve optimal control problems with ordinary differential equations and differential-algebraic equations. An emphasis is placed on the interplay between the continuous optimal control problem, which typically is defined and analyzed in a Banach space setting, and discrete optimal control problems, which are obtained by discretization and lead to finite dimensional optimization problems. The book addresses primarily master and PhD students as well as researchers in applied mathematics, but also engineers or scientists with a good background in mathematics and interest in optimal control. The theoretical parts of the book require some knowledge of functional analysis, the numerically oriented parts require knowledge from linear algebra and numerical analysis. Examples are provided for illustration purposes.

A rigorous introduction to optimal control theory, with an emphasis on applications in economics. This book bridges optimal control theory and economics, discussing ordinary differential equations, optimal control, game theory, and mechanism design in one volume. Technically rigorous and largely self-contained, it provides an introduction to the use of optimal control theory for deterministic continuous-time systems in economics. The theory of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) is the backbone of the theory developed in the book, and chapter 2 offers a detailed review of basic concepts in the theory of ODEs, including the solution of systems of linear ODEs, state-space analysis, potential functions, and stability analysis. Following this, the book covers the main results of optimal control theory, in particular necessary and sufficient optimality conditions; game theory, with an emphasis on differential games; and the application of control-theoretic concepts to the design of economic mechanisms. Appendixes provide a mathematical review and full solutions to all end-of-chapter problems. The material is presented at three levels: single-person decision making; games, in which a group of decision makers interact strategically; and mechanism design, which is concerned with a designer's creation of an environment in which players interact to maximize the designer's objective. The book focuses on applications; the problems are an integral part of the text. It is intended for use as a textbook or reference for graduate students, teachers, and researchers interested in applications of control theory beyond its classical use in economic growth. The book will also appeal to readers interested in a modeling approach to certain practical problems involving dynamic continuous-time models.