Includes sections on: Sliding mode control with switching command devices. Hyperplane design and CAD of variable structure control systems. Variable structure controllers for robots. The hyperstability approach to VSCS design. Nonlinear continuous feedback for robust tracking. Control of uncertain systems with neglected dynamics. Control of infinite dimensional plants.

A large part of today's fervour on robust control research is focused on those techniques which utilise the Variable Structure Control Method and Lyapunov's Second Method, and which constitute the backbone of the so-called "deterministic" control of uncertain systems. The chapters of this book cover a large spectrum of the recent research and introduce the most innovative ideas in the field. Contained within the volume the reader will find: a survey of control Lyapunov functions; new structures of sliding mode controllers with discussion on higher order sliding modes; new techniques for the design of direct and indirect adaptive controllers; an introduction to the geometric theory of "flat" systems; controllers for plants with component-wise bounded inputs; robust design via linear matrix inequalities and polytopic covering; and some issues on the dissipativity and absolute stability of nonli near systems.

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.

This book comprises a selection of papers that were first presented at VSS98 (5th International Workshop on Variable Structure Systems) held in Sarasota, Florida. This workshop was the fifth in a series of VSS international workshops, and the first to be held in the United States. Work presented herein on theoretical developments and applications on VSS and Sliding Mode, reflects how trends have advanced beyond the original ideas that are now well documented in a number of books and research monographs. In particular, the concepts of Sliding Sector and Second Order Sliding Mode introduced in this volume, will stimulate discussions and invite further extensions. Also, the focus on Sampled Data systems represents a positive trend towards practical industrial implementations of sliding mode controllers.

Discontinuous Systems develops nonsmooth stability analysis and discontinuous control synthesis based on novel modeling of discontinuous dynamic systems, operating under uncertain conditions. While being primarily a research monograph devoted to the theory of discontinuous dynamic systems, no background in discontinuous systems is required; such systems are introduced in the book at the appropriate conceptual level. Being developed for discontinuous systems, the theory is successfully applied to their subclasses – variable-structure and impulsive systems – as well as to finite- and infinite-dimensional systems such as distributed-parameter and time-delay systems. The presentation concentrates on algorithms rather than on technical implementation although theoretical results are illustrated by electromechanical applications. These specific applications complete the book and, together with the introductory theoretical constituents bring some elements of the tutorial to the text.