Preface

This book presents recent information on automation and control, a field that deals with a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes using predetermined criteria and actuator relationships and embodying this predetermination in machines based on digital equipment and algorithms. Automatic control includes the use of various control systems for operating equipment such as machinery, processes in factories, telephone networks, and ships, aircraft, and vehicles with reduced intervention, intelligent process monitoring, and optimal decision making based on practical measurements. Automation and control applications range from home control applications to large industrial control systems with tens of thousands of input measurements and output control signals, process monitoring, and centralized management policies.

Researchers in automation and control are continually developing new concepts and tools that enhance human understanding and improve the specialist's ability to design and implement high-performance solutions. As such, this book presents practical automation and control applications across various domains that emphasize methodologies used with implementation and commissioning issues. It also discusses new methodologies and techniques in the field.

The readers get new solutions and answers to questions related to the emerging automation and control in various applications and their implementation.

The book is structured in seven sections, each of which examines one of the following thematic areas: control theory, which deals with the control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines; autonomous or self-driving vehicles, which are vehicles capable of sensing the environment and moving safely with little or no human input via a variety of sensors and advanced control systems; mechatronics, which is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that focuses on the engineering of electrical and mechanical systems and includes a combination of robotics, electronics, computers, telecommunications, and control; digital image processing, which is the use of digital computers to process digital images using algorithms, electrical grids, which are networks that provide power to homes and industries within an extended area; artificial intelligence, which is a field of research that seeks to develop machines, programs, systems, algorithms, and methods to mimic natural intelligence; and electric motor drives, which are equipment, systems, control algorithms, and programs used to control the speed of machinery.

This book contents fifteen chapters. Chapter 1 presents a theoretic study on ellipsoidal analysis and filtering methods for nonlinear control stochastic systems with some basic applications. Stochastic control is a subfield of control theory that deals with the existence of uncertainty either in observation or in the noise that drives the evolution of the system. Methods of stochastic control based on the parametrization of distributions allow the design of practical software tools. Chapter 2 presents an interesting approach of reconfigurable minimum-time guidance of autonomous vehicles moving in variable sea currents, characterized by robustness and fault tolerance to environmental uncertainties. Chapter 3 discusses the development of an adaptive path-tracking controller equipped with a knowledge-based supervisory algorithm for an autonomous heavy vehicle, with optimal parameters depending on the maneuvering and vehicle conditions. Chapter 4 investigates an integral backstepping control strategy for unmanned aerial vehicle team formation to improve the performance indicators of the control. Chapter 5 presents a stabilizing model-predictive control strategy for inverted pendulum-like behaved systems that has an offset-free optimization control law. The Lyapunov stability of the closedloop system is achieved by adopting an infinite prediction horizon. Chapter 6 presents the design of a digital PID control for a Stewart-Gough platform with six degrees of freedom. The authors develop a prototype for the study, design, and control of parallel mechanisms. Chapter 7 is a theoretic study of kinematic modeling of serial manipulators, as multibody systems. Chapter 8 analyzes a sliding mode solution applied to robotic manipulators. Chapter 9 presents an iterative technique for polygonal approximation of digital image boundary, with application in parallel manipulators in detecting target boundary of an image with varying scale. Chapter 10 presents a study on selecting the appropriate robust and adaptive control theories for power system stabilizer implementation. Chapter 11 is a study in the field of control and protection algorithms for the electric power industry. Chapter 12 evaluates the algorithmic management of a digital work platform in developing countries. Chapter 13 is a short overview of some intelligent control structures and dedicated algorithms. Chapter 14 presents a technical solution for speed control of a DC motor based on a microcontroller. Finally, Chapter 15 presents a study on using wavelet neural networks for speed control of BLDC motors.

The chapters were edited and published following a rigorous selection process, with only a small number of the proposed chapters selected for publication.

The editor thanks the authors for their excellent contributions in the field as well as their understanding during the editing process. The editor also wishes to thank Josip Knapic, assistants to the editor, and the staff at IntechOpen.

> **Constantin Voloşencu** Department of Automation and Applied Informatics, "Politehnica" University Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania

> **Dr. Oscar Valero and Dr. José Guerrero** Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain

> > **Dr. Serdar Küçük** University of Kocaeli, Turkey
