Publisher's Synopsis
Robustness of control systems to disturbances and uncertainties has always been the central issue in feedback control. Feedback would not be needed for most control systems if there were no disturbances and uncertainties. Developing multivariable robust control methods has been the focal point in the last two decades in the control community. The theory of "Robust" Linear Control Systems has grown remarkably over the past ten years. Its popularity is now spreading over the industrial environment where it is an invaluable tool for analysis and design of servo systems. This rapid penetration is due to two major advantages: its applied nature and its relevance to practical problems of automation engineer. It is critical to the reliability of the servo system. The control theory is concerned with influencing systems to realize that certain output quantities take a desired course. These can be technical systems, like heating a room with output temperature, a boat with the output quantities heading and speed, or a power plant with the output electrical power. These systems may well be social, chemical or biological, as, for example, the system of national economy with the output rate of inflation. The nature of the system does not matter. Only the dynamic behavior is of great importance to the control engineer. We can describe this behavior by differential equations, difference equations or other functional equations. In classical control theory, which focuses on technical systems, the system that will be influenced is called the (controlled) plant. Indeed, control is typically designed from an idealized and simplified model of the real system. To function properly, it must be robust to the imperfections of the model, i.e. the discrepancies between the model and the real system, the excesses of physical parameters and the external disturbances. The main advantage of robust control techniques is to generate control laws that satisfy the two requirements mentioned above. More specifically, given a specification of desired behavior and frequency estimates of the magnitude of uncertainty, the theory evaluates the feasibility, produces a suitable control law, and provides a guaranty on the range of validity of this control law (strength). This combined approach is systematic and very general. In particular, it is directly applicable to Multiple-Input Multiple Output systems Robust Control- Design and Implementation covers selected problems in the theory of robust control and its application to robotic and electromechanical systems. This compilation will be a valuable reference for those interested in the recent theoretical advances and for researchers working in the broad field of robotics and mechatronics. Robustness of control systems to disturbances and uncertainties has always been the central issue in feedback control. Feedback would not be needed for most control systems if there were no disturbances and uncertainties. Developing multivariable robust control methods has been the focal point in the last two decades in the control community. The theory of "Robust" Linear Control Systems has grown remarkably over the past ten years. Its popularity is now spreading over the industrial environment where it is an invaluable tool for analysis and design of servo systems. This rapid penetration is due to two major advantages: its applied nature and its relevance to practical problems of automation engineer. It is critical to the reliability of the servo system. The control theory is concerned with influencing systems to realize that certain output quantities take a desired course. These can be technical systems, like heating a room with output temperature, a boat with the output quantities heading and speed, or a power plant with the output electrical power. These systems may well be social, chemical or biological, as, for example, the system of national economy with the output rate of inflation. The nature of the system does not matter. Only the dynamic behavior is of great importance to the control engineer. We can describe this behavior by differential equations, difference equations or other functional equations. In classical control theory, which focuses on technical systems, the system that will be influenced is called the (controlled) plant. Indeed, control is typically designed from an idealized and simplified model of the real system. To function properly, it must be robust to the imperfections of the model, i.e. the discrepancies between the model and the real system, the excesses of physical parameters and the external disturbances. The main advantage of robust control techniques is to generate control laws that satisfy the two requirements mentioned above. More specifically, given a specification of desired behavior and frequency estimates of the magnitude of uncertainty, the theory evaluates the feasibility, produces a suitable control law, and provides a guaranty on the range of validity of this control law (strength). This combined approach is systematic and very general. In particular, it is directly applicable to Multiple-Input Multiple Output systems Robust Control- Design and Implementation covers selected problems in the theory of robust control and its application to robotic and electromechanical systems. This compilation will be a valuable reference for those interested in the recent theoretical advances and for researchers working in the broad field of robotics and mechatronics. Robustness of control systems to disturbances and uncertainties has always been the central issue in feedback control. Feedback would not be needed for most control systems if there were no disturbances and uncertainties. Developing multivariable robust control methods has been the focal point in the last two decades in the control community. The theory of "Robust" Linear Control Systems has grown remarkably over the past ten years. Its popularity is now spreading over the industrial environment where it is an invaluable tool for analysis and design of servo systems. This rapid penetration is due to two major advantages: its applied nature and its relevance to practical problems of automation engineer. It is critical to the reliability of the servo system. The control theory is concerned with influencing systems to realize that certain output quantities take a desired course. These can be technical systems, like heating a room with output temperature, a boat with the output quantities heading and speed, or a power plant with the output electrical power. These systems may well be social, chemical or biological, as, for example, the system of national economy with the output rate of inflation. The nature of the system does not matter. Only the dynamic behavior is of great importance to the control engineer. We can describe this behavior by differential equations, difference equations or other functional equations. In classical control theory, which focuses on technical systems, the system that will be influenced is called the (controlled) plant. Indeed, control is typically designed from an idealized and simplified model of the real system. To function properly, it must be robust to the imperfections of the model, i.e. the discrepancies between the model and the real system, the excesses of physical parameters and the external disturbances. The main advantage of robust control techniques is to generate control laws that satisfy the two requirements mentioned above. More specifically, given a specification of desired behavior and frequency estimates of the magnitude of uncertainty, the theory evaluates the feasibility, produces a suitable control law, and provides a guaranty on the range of validity of this control law (strength). This combined approach is systematic and very general. In particular, it is directly applicable to Multiple-Input Multiple Output systems Robust Control- Design and Implementation covers selected problems in the theory of robust control and its application to robotic and electromechanical systems. This compilation will be a valuable reference for those interested in the recent theoretical advances and for researchers working in the broad field of robotics and mechatronics. Robustness of control systems to disturbances and uncertainties has always been the central issue in feedback control. Feedback would not be needed for most control systems if there were no disturbances and uncertainties. Developing multivariable robust control methods has been the focal point in the last two decades in the control community. The theory of "Robust" Linear Control Systems has grown remarkably over the past ten years. Its popularity is now spreading over the industrial environment where it is an invaluable tool for analysis and design of servo systems. This rapid penetration is due to two major advantages: its applied nature and its relevance to practical problems of automation engineer. It is critical to the reliability of the servo system. The control theory is concerned with influencing systems to realize that certain output quantities take a desired course. These can be technical systems, like heating a room with output temperature, a boat with the output quantities heading and speed, or a power plant with the output electrical power. These systems may well be social, chemical or biological, as, for example, the system of national economy with the output rate of inflation. The nature of the system does not matter. Only the dynamic behavior is of great importance to the control engineer. We can describe this behavior by differential equations, difference equations or other functional equations. In classical control theory, which focuses on technical systems, the system that will be influenced is called the (controlled) plant. Indeed, control is typically designed from an idealized and simplified model of the real system. To function properly, it must be robust to the imperfections of the model, i.e. the discrepanci
