Variable structure systems: from principles to implementation

Variable Structure Control Systems (VSCS) are characterised by a suite of feedback control laws and a decision rule. The decision rule, called the switching function, has as its input some measure of the current system behaviour and produces as an output the particular feedback controller that should be used at that instant of time. VSCSs allow the design of high performance control systems that can be reliable, cheaply and easily implemented. This text provides the theory and the associated design system methodologies. The three sections of the book cover: the essential background to variable structure control systems, current topic of research interest within the area and descriptions of a range of case studies.