A Course on Optimal Control

The book has developed out of lecture notes that were tested, adapted, and expanded over many years of teaching. Chapters 1-4 constitute thematerial for a basic course on optimal control, covering successively the calculus of variations, minimum principle, dynamic programming, and linear quadratic control. The additional Chapter 5 provides brief views to a number of selected topics related to optimal control, which are meant to peak the reader's interest. Some mathematical background is summarized in Appendix A for easy review. Appendix B recalls some of the basics of differential equations and also provides a detailed treatment of Lyapunov stability theory including LaSalle's invariance principle, as occasionally used in Chapters 3 and 4.