Embedded controllers are integrated into many modern consumers, industrial, and military products such as automotive, construction, and agricultural equipment, airplanes. On the average, a typical automobile has over twenty embedded controllers, dealing with the control decisions of engine, transmission, ABS brakes, heating, and cooling systems. The number of embedded controller and the complexity of tasks they deal with are increasing in all applications. It is predicted that future cars will drive themselves automatically where the driver may simply be watching the overall operation and override when necessary. Aircraft flight control systems are already so automated that almost whole flight, the exception of takeoff and landing, is handled by autopilot control algorithms. Construction and agricultural equipment are moving in the same direction of autonomous operations, where there will no longer be a driver on the machine but rather personnel supervising and overseeing the operation of a fleet of machines from a remote office site. Embedded controllers are the rugged “black box” type computers used for the control machines. They are distinguished from desktop or consumer computers in that they are very rugged as they must operate in very harsh working environment, that is, from very hot to cold, dirty, wet, and highly vibratory conditions. In any embedded controller development project, over 95 % of the engineering time is spent in the software, and only about 5% of the time is spent on hardware issues.

Software is application specific and therefore must be developed custom for each type of application. Model- based control software development and deployment are the current state of art norm in this field of engineering. Control algorithms are based on dynamics models of the controlled machine function in order to achieve better dynamic performance. Furthermore, the model-based control algorithms are deployed using autocode generation tools.

This special issue will focus on the control engineering tools, processes, and application examples for the purpose of developing and testing an embedded controller. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Model- based controller design tools and tutorials (i.e. using Matlab, Simulink, and DSpace tools)
• Hardware in the loop simulation (HIL)
• Autocode generation methods
• Robotics, micro- and nanomanipulation
• Machine control applications including, engine, transmission, brake, steering, and GPS guidance
• Electrohydraulic control systems
• Flight control systems
• Virtual dynamic simulation of complete operational cycles (i.e. complete flight paths for airplanes, farming operations for agricultural equipment)

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