A Course in Robust Control Theory

Robust control theory has been one of the most active areas of mainstream systems theory since the late 1970s. This research activity has been at the confluence of dynamical systems theory, functional analysis, matrix analysis, numerical methods, complexity theory, and engineering applications. The discipline has involved interactions between diverse research groups including pure mathematicians, applied mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers.

A rather extensive set of approaches using a wide variety of mathematical techniques has been produced by the research effort, and applications of robust control theory are spreading to areas as diverse as aerospace systems, chemical processes, power networks, and control of fluids. During the 1990s the theory has seen major advances and achieved a new maturity, centered around convex analysis and optimization.

The goal of this book is to give a graduate-level course on robust control theory that emphasizes these new developments, but at the same time conveys the main principles and ubiquitous tools at the heart of the subject. Its pedagogical objectives are to introduce a coherent and unified framework for studying robust control theory, to provide students with the control-theoretic background required to read and contribute to the research literature, and to present the main ideas and demonstrations of the major results of robust control theory.

The book will be of value to mathematical researchers and computer scientists wishing to learn about robust control theory, graduate students planning to do research in the area, and engineers interested in the basis of advanced control techniques.