xvi PrefaCe
Thebook is not meant to supplant the many excellent books on nonlinear and adaptive control
but is designed to be a complementary resource. It seeks to present the methods of nonlinear
controller synthesis for both robots and UAVs in a single, unied framework.
The book is organized as follows: Chapter 1 deals with the application of the Euler–
Lagrange method to robot manipulators. Special consideration is given to rapidly determining
the equations of motion of various classes of manipulators. Thus, the manipulators are classi-
ed as parallel and serial, as Cartesian and spherical and as planar, rotating planar and spatial,
and the methods of determining the equations of motion are discussed under these categories.
The denition of planar manipulators is generalized so that a wider class of manipulators can
be included in this category. The methods of deriving the dynamics of the manipulators can
be used as templates to derive the dynamics of any manipulator. This approach is unique to
this book. Chapter 2 focuses on the application of the Lagrangian method to UAVs via the
method of quasi-coordinates. It is worth remembering that the use of the Lagrangian method
for deriving the equations of motion of a UAV is not the norm amongst ight dynamicists.
Moreover, the chapter introduces the velocity axes, as the synthesis of the ight controller
in these axes is a relatively easy task. The concept of feedback linearization is introduced
in Chapter 3, while the classical methods of phase plane analysis of the stability of nonlin-
ear systems and their features are discussed in Chapter 4 in the context of Lyapunov’s rst
method. Chapter 5 presents an overview of the methods of robot and UAV control. Chapter6
is dedicated to introducing the concepts of stability, and Chapter 7 is exclusively about
Lyapunov stability with an enunciation of Lyapunov’s second method. The methodology of
computed torque control is the subject of Chapter 8, and sliding mode controls are introduced
in Chapter9. Chapter 10 discusses parameter identication, including recursive egression,
while adaptive and model predictive controller designs are introduced in Chapter11. In a
sense, linear optimal control, a particular instance of the Lyapunov design of controllers, is
also covered in the section on model predictive control, albeit briey. Chapter12 is exclusively
devoted to the Lyapunov design of controllers by backstepping. Chapter 13 covers the applica-
tion of feedback linearization in the task space to achieve decoupling of the position and force
control loops, and Chapter 14 is devoted to the applications of nonlinear systems theory to the
synthesis of ight controllers for UAVs.
It is the author’s belief that the book will not be just another text on nonlinear control but
serve as a unique resource to both the robotics and UAV research communities in the years to
come and as a springboard for new and advanced projects across the globe.
First and foremost, I thank Jonathan Plant, without his active support, this project would
not have been successful. I also thank my colleagues and present and former students at the
School of Engineering and Material Science at Queen Mary University of London for their
assistance in this endeavour. In particular, I thank Professor Vassili Toropov for his support
and encouragement.
I thank my wife Sudha for her love, understanding and patience. Her encouragement and
support provided the motivation to complete the project. I also thank our children Lullu, Satvi
and Abhinav for their understanding during the course of this project.
Ranjan Vepa
London, United Kingdom
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