Abstract :
This book reflects the practical experience of its authors in two ways. First, it emphasizes several topics that are often neglected in control textbooks but are critical in many real-world problems. Second, the book reflects the industrial experience of the authors in their choice of examples. The book has 26 chapters, divided into eight parts. Part I provides a brief history of control, and introduction to feedback principles, a discussion on modeling, and a review of signals and systems. Part II concisely covers traditional classical control topics and provides a thorough treatment on pole placement. Performance limitations, architecture issues, and control signal constraints in a SISO setting are included in Part III. Part IV focuses on digital computer control, while Part V includes controller parameterizations, quadratically optimal control, state-space basics, and aspects of nonlinear control. Parts VI-VIII, the remainder of the book, deal with MIMO control. The authors make extensive use of electronic resources to supplement the book. Most of the resources are available on the included CD-ROM, bit more up-to-date resources are available on a Web site. (The educational value of these resources in general is still up for debate.) The text is a well-written book that stands out because it provides real-world perspective. Although it is too concise for an introductory course, it is recommended for a second course in control engineering and as a reference book.
