Cambridge Scholars Publishing Advances in Applied Nonlinear Optimal Control

This volume discusses advances in applied nonlinear optimal control, comprising both theoretical analysis of the developed control methods and case studies about their use in robotics, mechatronics, electric power generation, power electronics, micro-electronics, biological systems, biomedical systems, financial systems and industrial production processes. The advantages of the nonlinear optimal control approaches which are developed here are that, by applying approximate linearization of the controlled systems’ state-space description, one can avoid the elaborated state variables transformations (diffeomorphisms) which are required by global linearization-based control methods. The book also applies the control input directly to the power unit of the controlled systems and not on an equivalent linearized description, thus avoiding the inverse transformations met in global linearization-based control methods and the potential appearance of singularity problems. The method adopted here also retains the known advantages of optimal control, that is, the best trade-off between accurate tracking of reference setpoints and moderate variations of the control inputs. The book’s findings on nonlinear optimal control are a substantial contribution to the areas of nonlinear control and complex dynamical systems, and will find use in several research and engineering disciplines and in practical applications. About the Author Dr Gerasimos Rigatos obtained a diploma and a PhD from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. In 2001, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institut de Recherche en Informatique et Systmes Alatoires, France. Since 2002 he has held a research position (currently Grade Research Director) at the Industrial Systems Institute (Greek Secretariat for Research and Technology), on the topic of Modelling and Control of Industrial Systems. During his career, he has taught in French, English and Greek universities, and his research interests include the areas of computational intelligence and adaptive systems, mechatronics, robotics and control, optimization and fault diagnosis. Since 2016, he has held Visiting Professor positions at the University of Salerno, Italy, and the University of Northumbria, UK. Electra Karapanou, MSc, is an economist with several years of work experience in finance and business administration. Her research interests are in computational methods for financial engineering, statistical validation methods for models used in economics and in finance, as well as in optimized decision making and in risk management for economics and finance.