Challenges and Paradigms in Applied Robust Control

Robust control is a branch of control theory whose approach to controller design explicitly deals with uncertainty. Robust control methods are designed to function properly provided that uncertain parameters or disturbances are found within some (typically compact) set. Robust methods aim to achieve robust performance and/or stability in the presence of bounded modeling errors. In contrast with an adaptive control policy, a robust control policy is static; rather than adapting to measurements of variations, the controller is designed to work assuming that certain variables will be unknown but bounded. Robust control systems often incorporate advanced topologies which include multiple feedback loops and feed-forward paths. The control laws may be represented by high order transfer functions required to simultaneously accomplish desired disturbance rejection performance with robust closed loop operation. The theory of robust control began in the late 1970s and early 1980s and soon developed a number of techniques for dealing with bounded system uncertainty. Probably the most important example of a robust control technique is H-infinity loopshaping. There have been many recent advances in the area of robust control. The main objective of this book, Challenges and Paradigms in Applied Robust Control, is to deal with important challenges and paradigms in the field of applied robust control design and implementation. The book highlights the recent advancements in the field, and motivates and encourages new ideas and solutions in the robust control area.