This book systematizes recent research work on variable-structure control. It is self-contained, presenting necessary mathematical preliminaries so that the theoretical developments can be easily understood by a broad readership. The text begins with an introduction to the fundamental ideas of variable-structure control pertinent to their application in complex nonlinear systems. In the core of the book, the authors lay out an approach, suitable for a large class of systems, that deals with system uncertainties with nonlinear bounds. Its treatment of complex systems in which limited measurement information is available makes the results developed convenient to implement. Various case-study applications are described, from aerospace, through power systems to river pollution control with supporting simulations to aid the transition from mathematical theory to engineering practicalities. The book addresses systems with nonlinearities, time delays and interconnections and considers issues such as stabilization, observer design, and fault detection and isolation. It makes extensive use of numerical and practical examples to render its ideas more readily absorbed. Variable-Structure Control of Complex Systems will be of interest to academic researchers studying control theory and its application in nonlinear, time-delayed an modular large-scale systems; the robustness of its approach will also be attractive to control engineers working in industries associate with aerospace, electrical and mechanical engineering.

The last of such a workshop on VSS in the 20th Century, the theme of this workshop is Intelligent Systems with Variable Structure, which aims to summarize the state-of-the-art in VSS as well as to revamp VSS into a forward-looking research field in the 21 st Century. The emerging trend of cross-fertilization and integration of VSS with other control and non-control areas such as robust control, adaptive control, nonlinear control, identification, modelling, optimization, artificial intelligence, neural networks, and fuzzy logic, etc. will continue and flourish in the new century.

The book is a collection of contributions concerning the theories, applications and perspectives of Variable Structure Systems (VSS). Variable Structure Systems have been a major control design methodology for many decades. The term Variable Structure Systems was introduced in the late 1950’s, and the fundamental concepts were developed for its main branch Sliding Mode Control by Russian researchers Emelyanov and Utkin. The 20th Century has seen the formation and consolidation of VSS theory and its applications. It has also seen an emerging trend of cross-fertilization and integration of VSS with other control and non-control techniques such as feedback linearization, ?atness, passivity based control, adaptive and learning ? control, system identi?cation, pulse width modulation, H geometric and algebraic methods, arti?cial intelligence, modeling and optimization, neural networks, fuzzy logic, to name just a few. This trend will continue and ?ourish in the new millennium. To re?ect these major developments in the 20th Century, this book - cludes 16 specially invited contributions from well-known experts in VSS theory and applications, covering a wide range of topics. The ?rst chapter, “First Stage of VSS: People and Events” written by Vadim Utkin, the founder of VSS, oversees and documents the historical developments of VSS in the 20th Century, including many interesting events not known to the West until now. The second chapter, “An Integrated Learning Variable Structure Control Method” written by Jian-Xin Xu, addresses an important issue regarding control integration between variable structure control and learning control.

This edited book aims at presenting current research activities in the field of robust variable-structure systems. The scope equally comprises highlighting novel methodological aspects as well as presenting the use of variable-structure techniques in industrial applications including their efficient implementation on hardware for real-time control. The target audience primarily comprises research experts in the field of control theory and nonlinear dynamics but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

Control and Dynamic Systems: Advances in Theory and Applications, Volume 34: Advances in Control Mechanics, Part 1 of 2 presents the fundamental aspects of mechanical systems control theory. This book deals with microburst, a severe meteorological condition significant to aircraft control. Organized into seven chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the problem of stable control of an aircraft subjected to windshear caused by microburst. This text then examines the results concerning control of an aircraft under windshear conditions. Other chapters consider the robust control problem using the variable structure control method. This book discusses as well the problem of finding zeros of a nonlinear vector function by using methods of dynamical systems analysis. The final chapter deals with the role of singularities and their effect on the global trait of dynamical systems. This book is a valuable resource for mechanical and materials engineers. Research workers and students will also find this book useful.

This book is devoted to analysis and design on delta operator systems. When sampling is fast, a dynamical system will become difficult to control, which can be seen in wide real world applications. Delta operator approach is very effective to deal with fast sampling systems. Moreover, it is easy to observe and analyze the control effect with different sampling periods in delta operator systems. The framework of this book has been carefully constructed for delta operator systems to handle sliding mode control, time delays, filter design, finite frequency and networked control. These problems indeed are especially important and significant in automation and control systems design. Through the clear framework of the book, readers can easily go through the learning process on delta operator systems via a precise and comfortable learning sequence. Following this enjoyable trail, readers will come out knowing how to use delta operator approach to deal with control problems under fast sampling case. This book should be a good reference for academies, post-graduates scientists and engineers working in the field of control science and control engineering.