Customer Reviews

Applied Nonlinear Control

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a graduate student, I've been exposed to several books on control theory and Applied Nonlinear Control may be my favorite. This book does a good job at presenting control solutions for a rich class of systems. I specifically enjoyed learning about sliding control and on-line parameter estimation for adaptive contol. At times the book is difficult to follow for it frequently refers to specific equations and theorems of previous sections, but that is unavoidable considering the nature of the topic.

As a student, I've found this book very useful in the areas of sliding control and linearization. It is easy to read and well written.

Slotine's book is less mathematical than some and many may find this refreshing, although this also removes some of the insight. For those students without a really deep mathematical background who are required or elect to take a course on nonlinear controls this is a decent starting point. When this came out, it caused somewhat of a furor as much of it is a simplication of Isidori's Nonlinear Control Systems book. This is a little less general and much more readable. However, be advised that there are misunderstandings in the book concerning sliding mode control, and the section on spacecraft attitude control has been used and abused over many years. Nothing wrong with the latter material however, it has just been "rediscovered" many times. There are also a number of mathematical mistakes in the book. Nevertheless the book is very readable and the section on Lyapunov functions is an excellent introduction.

This is a good entry point for learning non-linear control. It is at the advanced undergraduate level, and does not require an advanced background. As an applied textbook, it provides tools for analyzing non-linear system. For a more rigourous theoretical development of non-linear control theory, try Nonlinear Control Design by Marino and Patrizio.

Slotine's book is a great introduction to nonlinear controls, the best I know of. When a colleague comes into my office and asks for an introduction to nonlinear control, I invariably send them off with this book. (In fact, it's currently let out now, and I can't remember who has it.)

Many controls people think that you can't introduce controls without the abusive math found in most texts. Slotine minimizes a lot of that dense math and, in my opinion, focuses on the important concepts of nonlinear control without getting bogged down.

On the negative side, as others have pointed out, Slotine's book doesn't have the detailed mathematical treatment of other books on nonlinear control. A researcher in nonlinear controls will have to get additional resources to really dig in to a particular field. Slotine's minimization of math does border on marginalization. But I believe this was his purpose!

In conclusion, if you're looking for an introduction or (relatively gentle) exposure to the field of nonlinear systems, nonlinear controls, chaos, or adaptive controls, then I think Slotine's is the best book around.

Nice book to get the intution behind the methods.
In this sense, the book is the unique.
It is very readable and easy to understand.
The authors are lazy and do not have a website for typos, corrections.
Hence, instead of 5 stars I am giving 4 stars.