STUDY NOTES FOR ENGINEERS

            The vast majority of control systems built today is embedded; that is, they rely on built-in, special-purpose digital computers to close their feedback loops. Embedded systems are common in aircraft, factories, chemical processing plants, and even in cars—a single high-end automobile may contain over eighty different computers. In such settings, controllers often use shared networks to communicate with each other and with large numbers of sensors and actuators scattered throughout the system. The design of embedded controllers and of the intricate, automated communication networks that support them raises many new questions—practical, as well as theoretical—about network protocols, compatibility of operating systems, and ways to maximize the effectiveness of the embedded hardware. The Handbook of Networked and Embedded Control Systems, the first of its kind, provides engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians, and students a broad, comprehensive source of information and technology to address many questions and aspects of embedded and networked control. A carefully organized collection of important results, tools, software, and technology, this work unifies into a single reference many scattered articles, websites, and specification sheets.