The motivation for writing this book can be ascribed chiefly to the usual struggle of
an average reader to understand and utilize controls concepts, without getting lost in
the mathematics. Many textbooks are available on modern control, which do a fine
job of presenting the control theory. However, an introductory text on modern control
usually stops short of the really useful concepts - such as optimal control and Kalman
filters - while an advanced text which covers these topics assumes too much mathematical
background of the reader. Furthermore, the examples and exercises contained
in many control theory textbooks are too simple to represent modern control applications,
because of the computational complexity involved in solving practical problems.
This book aims at introducing the reader to the basic concepts and applications
of modern control theory in an easy to read manner, while covering in detail what
may be normally considered advanced topics, such as multivariable state-space design,
solutions to time-varying and nonlinear state-equations, optimal control, Kalman filters,
robust control, and digital control. An effort is made to explain the underlying principles
behind many controls concepts. The numerical examples and exercises are chosen
to represent practical problems in modern control. Perhaps the greatest distinguishing
feature of this book is the ready and extensive use of MATLAB (with its Control
System Toolbox) and SIMULINK®, as practical computational tools to solve problems
across the spectrum of modern control. MATLAB/SIMULINK combination has become
the single most common - and industry-wide standard - software in the analysis and
design of modern control systems. In giving the reader a hands-on experience with the
MATLAB/SIMULINK and the Control System Toolbox as applied to some practical design
problems, the book is useful for a practicing engineer, apart from being an introductory
text for the beginner.
