Constructive Nonlinear Control presents a broad repertoire of constructive nonlinear designs not available in other works by widening the class of systems and design tools. Several streams of nonlinear control theory are merged and directed towards a constructive solution of the feedback stabilization problem. Analysis, geometric and asymptotic concepts are assembled as design tools for a wide variety of nonlinear phenomena and structures. Geometry serves as a guide for the construction of design procedures whilst analysis provides the robustness which geometry lacks. New recursive designs remove earlier restrictions on feedback passivation. Recursive Lyapunov designs for feedback, feedforward and interlaced structures result in feedback systems with optimality properties and stability margins. The design-oriented approach will make this work a valuable tool for all those who have an interest in control theory.

This work presents a novel method to solve analysis and design problems for nonlinear control systems, the classical solutions of which rely on the solvability, or on the solution itself, of partial differential equations or inequalities. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the analysis of nonlinear systems. The notion of Dynamic Lyapunov function is introduced. These functions allow to study stability properties of equilibrium points, similarly to standard Lyapunov functions. In the former, however, a positive definite function is combined with a dynamical system that render Dynamic Lyapunov functions easier to construct than Lyapunov functions. These ideas are then extended to characterize Dynamic Controllability and Observability functions, which are exploited in the model reduction problem for nonlinear systems. Constructive solutions to the L2-disturbance attenuation and the optimal control problems are proposed in the second part of the thesis. The key aspect of these solutions is the definition of Dynamic Value functions that, generalizing Dynamic Lyapunov functions, consist of a dynamical feedback and a positive definite function. In the last part of the thesis a similar approach is utilized to simplify the observer design problem via the Immersion and Invariance technique. Finally, the effectiveness of the methodologies is illustrated by means of several applications, including range estimation and the optimal robust control of mechanical systems, combustion engine test benches and the air path of a diesel engine.

This volume presents a well balanced combination of state-of-the-art theoretical results in the field of nonlinear controller and observer design, combined with industrial applications stemming from mechatronics, electrical, (bio–) chemical engineering, and fluid dynamics. The unique combination of results of finite as well as infinite–dimensional systems makes this book a remarkable contribution addressing postgraduates, researchers, and engineers both at universities and in industry. The contributions to this book were presented at the Symposium on Nonlinear Control and Observer Design: From Theory to Applications (SYNCOD), held September 15–16, 2005, at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. The conference and this book are dedicated to the 65th birthday of Prof. Dr.–Ing. Dr.h.c. Michael Zeitz to honor his life – long research and contributions on the fields of nonlinear control and observer design.

Model-Based Control of Nonlinear Systems presents model-based control techniques for nonlinear, constrained systems. It covers constructive control design methods with an emphasis on modeling constrained systems, generating dynamic control models, and designing tracking control algorithms for the models.The book's interdisciplinary approach illustr

The growing impact of nonlinear science on biology and medicine is fundamentally changing our view of living organisms and disease processes. This book introduces the application to biomedicine of a broad range of interdisciplinary concepts from nonlinear dynamics, such as self-organization, complexity, coherence, stochastic resonance, fractals and chaos. It comprises 18 chapters written by leading figures in the field and covers experimental and theoretical research, as well as the emerging technological possibilities such as nonlinear control techniques for treating pathological biodynamics, including heart arrhythmias and epilepsy. This book will attract the interest of professionals and students from a wide range of disciplines, including physicists, chemists, biologists, sensory physiologists and medical researchers such as cardiologists, neurologists and biomedical engineers.

During this grant period, we have enhanced robustness of our designs and thus increased their ability to accommodate disturbances and unmodeled dynamics. We have also broadened the class of systems to which these methods are applicable. In a different direction, we have developed structure specific methods to analyze boundedness properties of systems with "stiffening" nonlinearities, as in micro-electromechanical probes. A major advance has been made on difficult output feedback problem with a novel nonlinear observer design, achieving robustness to modeling errors. Explicit necessary and sufficient conditions have been derived for coordinated passivation designs. A new maneuvering design has been developed. Further progress was made in MIMO adaptive control. We now briefly summarize our main results.