Control Applications of Nonlinear Programming contains the proceedings of the International Federation of Automatic Control Workshop on Control Applications of Nonlinear Programming, held in Denver, Colorado, on June 21, 1979. The workshop provided a forum for discussing the application of optimal and nonlinear programming techniques to real-life control problems. The volume covers a variety of specific applications ranging from microprocessor control of automotive engines and optimal design of structures to optimal aircraft trajectories, system identification, and robotics. Comprised of 14 chapters, this book begins by describing the application of nonlinear programming to an optimum design problem coming from mechanical engineering. The reader is then introduced to a nonlinear regulator design for magnetic suspension; optimal control solution of the automotive emission-constrained minimum fuel problem; and nonlinear programming for system identification. Subsequent chapters focus on mathematical programming algorithms based on Lagrangian functions for solving optimal control problems; computer-aided design via optimization; optimal and suboptimal control of oscillating dynamical systems; and the application of nonlinear programming to the solution of optimal output-constrained regulator problems. This monograph will be of interest to mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers.

Beginning in 1985, one section is devoted to a special topic