This monograph presents new methodologies to improve power plants' efficiency, by using automatic control algorithms. This will lead to an improvement in companies’ profit and also in the quality of their final product. A trans-Atlantic combination of authors ensures an unusually wide range of perspectives.

Safety in industrial process and production plants is a concern of rising importance but because the control devices which are now exploited to improve the performance of industrial processes include both sophisticated digital system design techniques and complex hardware, there is a higher probability of failure. Control systems must include automatic supervision of closed-loop operation to detect and isolate malfunctions quickly. A promising method for solving this problem is "analytical redundancy", in which residual signals are obtained and an accurate model of the system mimics real process behaviour. If a fault occurs, the residual signal is used to diagnose and isolate the malfunction. This book focuses on model identification oriented to the analytical approach of fault diagnosis and identification covering: choice of model structure; parameter identification; residual generation; and fault diagnosis and isolation. Sample case studies are used to demonstrate the application of these techniques.

From the reviews: "The book is an excellent combination of theory and real-world applications. Each application not only demonstrates the power of the theoretical results but also is important on its own behalf." IEEE Control Systems Magazine

Based on the author’s research and practical projects, he presents a broad view of the needs and problems of the shipping industry in this area. The book covers several models and control types, developing an integrated nonlinear state-space model of the marine propulsion system.

Using relevant mathematical proofs and case studies illustrating design and application issues, this book demonstrates this powerful technique in the light of research on neural networks, which allow the identification of nonlinear models without the complicated and costly development of models based on physical laws.

A sine qua non of control system development for modern sewer networks is the preservation of the water system around a network’s outflow(s). Several approaches have been proposed for the optimisation of sewage control and Optimal Real-time Control of Sewer Networks provides a comparative synthesis of a central sewer network flow control based on two of these: nonlinear-optimal and multivariable-feedback control. Testing and comparison of these protocols are made on the basis of their control results for the large-scale sewer network located around the river Obere Iller in Bavaria. The control strategies implemented within this network are based on this study. From the selection of possible methods of control and moving to the implementation of those methods in a real sewer system, this monograph will be invaluable to control and civil engineers working in sewage flow and wastewater treatment and of interest to academics wishing to see how their ideas on optimal control work out when practically applied.

This second edition of Precision Motion Control focuses on enabling technologies for precision engineering. It has been extensively edited and rewritten throughout with the following particular areas being expanded or added: • piezoelectric actuators • fine movement control • gantry-stage control • interpolation of quadrature encoder signals • geometrical error modeling for single-, dual- and general-XY-axis stages.