Sensitivity Methods in Control Theory

Sensitivity Methods in Control Theory is a collection of manuscripts presented as the Third International Symposium of Sensitivity Analysis, held at Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia on August 31-September 5, 1964, sponsored by The Theory Committee of International Federation of Automatic Control. Sensitivity theory or sensitivity analysis concerns the solution of problems associated with parameter variations within the general scope of control theory.

This book is organized into five parts encompassing 30 chapters. Part I presents some basic approaches of sensitivity analysis, such the Lyapunov's theory of stability, invariant imbedding, nonlinear sampled data, and linear time-varying systems. This part also looks into the preliminary steps towards the development of game theory and some general applications of sensitivity analysis.

Part II treats the problem of accuracy, reliability, self-adjustment, and optimization of sensitivity of automatic control systems, while Part III deals with the functional derivative technique of sensitivity analysis and its applications for designing self-adjusting control systems.

Part IV describes the task of synthesizing control systems for linear plants with variable parameters satisfying specified performance criteria. Part V considers the association between sensitivity and optimality in various control systems.

This book will prove useful to design and other specialized fields in engineering.