The ultimate objective of any controls text is to teach students how to achieve the best possible design. In this new text, Wolovich integrates classical and modern techniques, systematically develops all the background material necessary to achieve the best possible design, and stresses flexibility to attain this goal. All the relevant controls topics are presented in a clear pedagogical sequence beginning with the equivalence of system descriptions, followed by coverage of performance goals and tests, and concluding with some new and innovative design methods for achieving the goals...

This text was developed over a three year period of time (1971- 1973) from a variety of notes and references used in the presentation of a senior/first year graduate level course in the Division of En- gineering at Brown University titled Linear System Theory. The in- tent of the course was not only to introduce students to the more modern, state-space approach to multivariable control system analysis and design, as opposed to the classical, frequency domain approach, but also to draw analogies between the two approaches whenever and wherever possible. It is therefore felt that the material...