Originally published: London; New York: Academic Press, 1980, in series: Mathematics in science and engineering; v. 156.

This volume provides a general overview on the state-of-the-art and future developments in automation and control. The application of systems and control in all areas is covered, from the social and cultural effects of control, to control in mineral and metal processing. This volume will be an invaluable source of information to all those interested in the areas of automation and control.

This book may be regarded as consisting of two parts. In Chapters I-IV we pre sent what we regard as essential topics in an introduction to deterministic optimal control theory. This material has been used by the authors for one semester graduate-level courses at Brown University and the University of Kentucky. The simplest problem in calculus of variations is taken as the point of departure, in Chapter I. Chapters II, III, and IV deal with necessary conditions for an opti mum, existence and regularity theorems for optimal controls, and the method of dynamic programming. The beginning reader may find it useful first to learn the main results, corollaries, and examples. These tend to be found in the earlier parts of each chapter. We have deliberately postponed some difficult technical proofs to later parts of these chapters. In the second part of the book we give an introduction to stochastic optimal control for Markov diffusion processes. Our treatment follows the dynamic pro gramming method, and depends on the intimate relationship between second order partial differential equations of parabolic type and stochastic differential equations. This relationship is reviewed in Chapter V, which may be read inde pendently of Chapters I-IV. Chapter VI is based to a considerable extent on the authors' work in stochastic control since 1961. It also includes two other topics important for applications, namely, the solution to the stochastic linear regulator and the separation principle.

Control and Dynamic Systems: Advances in Theory and Application, Volume 16 is concerned with applied dynamic systems control techniques. It describes various techniques for system modeling, which apply to several systems issues. This book presents a comprehensive treatment of powerful algorithmic techniques for solving dynamic-system optimization problems. It also describes approaches for systems model that apply to system issues such as time delays. The remaining chapters of this book explore the simulation of large closed-loop systems and optimization of low-order feedback controllers for discrete-time systems. Researchers who wish to broaden their understanding of dynamic systems control techniques will find this book invaluable.

Considers the application of modern control engineering on digital computers with a view to improving productivity and product quality, easing supervision of industrial processes and reducing energy consumption and pollution. The topics covered may be divided into two main subject areas: (1) applications of digital control - in the chemical and oil industries, in water turbines, energy and power systems, robotics and manufacturing, cement, metallurgical processes, traffic control, heating and cooling; (2) systems theoretical aspects of digital control - adaptive systems, control aspects, multivariable systems, optimization and reliability, modelling and identification, real-time software and languages, distributed systems and data networks. Contains 84 papers.

This publication brings together the latest research findings in the key area of chemical process control; including dynamic modelling and simulation - modelling and model validation for application in linear and nonlinear model-based control: nonlinear model-based predictive control and optimization - to facilitate constrained real-time optimization of chemical processes; statistical control techniques - major developments in the statistical interpretation of measured data to guide future research; knowledge-based v model-based control - the integration of theoretical aspects of control and optimization theory with more recent developments in artificial intelligence and computer science.

These Proceedings contain a selection of papers presented at the first IFAC Symposium on Design Methods of Control Systems. The volume contains three plenary papers and 97 technical papers, the latter classified under 15 section headings, as listed in the contents.