Invited presentation at the 1987 World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Con-
trol, Munich, Federal Republic of Germany, July
27-31, 1987, and published in the Congress Pro-
ceedings. Davorin Hrovat and William F. Powers are with the Powertrain and Systems Research
Laboratory, Research Staff, Ford Motor Com-
pany, Dearbom, MI 48121.
with "inner-loop'' feedback-feedforward adaptive (learning) modules. The develop-
ment of a total system involves four major
steps: (1) development of unique, problem-
oriented large scale integrated devices; (2)
linear digital control system theory prelimi-
nary design; ( 3 ) nonlinear simulation/con-
troller design; and (4) hardware-in-the-loop/
real-time simulation capability for identifi- cation, calibration, and verification.
To illustrate how control-theoretic tech- niques are employed in the design of power- train control systems, the problems of idle speed control and transmission control will be reviewed. The paper concludes with a discussion of current trends in on-board
computer control applications