THE USE OF SYMBOLIC COMPUTATION IN NONLINEAR CONTROL - IS IT VIABLE

To help along the analysis and design of nonlinear control systems the NONLINCON package, an acronym for Nonlinear Control, was developed. T his note addresses the usefulness of symbolic computation, and of the NONLINCON package in particular, for the symbolic analysis and design of nonlinear control systems. The symbolic computation program MAPLE i s used as computing substratum. Textbook problems show that the NONLIN CON package can be used successfully, A larger scale problem is too co mplex, hen-ever, to be solved with the current versions of NONLINCON a nd MAPLE. The conclusion is that symbolic computation is a viable appr oach for textbook problems, but not yet for more complex ones.