Les mini-drones à propulsion électrique sont susceptibles d’avoir une endurance inférieure à celle de drones plus grands.L’exploitation des interactions aérodynamiques, inspirée par les oiseaux migratoires, ainsi que le ravitaillement en vol , sont des approches prometteuses pour améliorer l’endurance des mini-drones. La commande par modes glissants d’ordre supérieur en temps continu (CTHOSM) a été considérée comme un candidat prometteur à ce problème ouvert difficile et a été appliquée avec succès à des modèles cinématiques simples. Dans nos travaux, nous étudions les implications de la présence de la dynamique de la boucle interne et de l’implémentation en temps discret à des taux d’échantillonnage modérés et constatons alors que l’application de la commande CTHOSM devient impossible. Nous proposons donc un schéma de guidage prédictif discret par modes glissants pour approximer les performances de la commande CTHOSM pour une dynamique réaliste du drone. On propose également un problème de référence accessible pour d'autres chercheurs. Les algorithmes de localisation probabilistes existants ne permettent pas la caractérisation de régions de confiance garanties de la position des autres membres de la formation. Dans ce contexte, nous proposons un nouveau filtre ensembliste caractérisant de telles régions de confiance sous forme ellipsoïdale. Nos premières évaluations ont montré que les efforts de calcul induits par cette mise en œuvre restent parfaitement compatibles avec les contraintes des systèmes avioniques des petits drones. / Small, electrically driven unmanned aircraft are likely to suffer from inferior endurance compared to their larger counterparts. Upwash exploitation by tight formation flight, as well as aerial recharging are the most promising control-driven approaches to mitigate this disadvantage. Continuous time higher order sliding mode control (CTHOSM) has been considered as a candidate for this challenging open problem and was successfully applied to simple kinematic models in simulation, where excellent relative position tracking performance can be demonstrated. In this work we study the implications of the presence of inner loop dynamics and discrete implementation at moderate sampling rates and we find that it precludes the application of CTHOSM control to fixed-wing UAS. We propose a predictive discrete sliding mode guidance scheme to approximate the performance of CTHOSM control assuming realistic fixed-wing UAS dynamics. We show that the proposed guidance scheme in combination with inner load factor tracking loops and a disturbance observer allows for relative position tracking performance compatible with the requirements of upwash exploitation. We propose as well an openly accessible benchmark problem. Existing probabilistic localization algorithms cannot provide guaranteed confidence regions of the relative position between UAS. We present a set membership filter that provides ellipsoidal regions guaranteed to contain the relative positions of the other UAS. It is compatible with the hardware constraints of small low-cost UAS. Simulations suggest computational efforts compatible with the computational resources typically available onboard small UAS.

Orientador: José Paulo Fernandes Garcia / Resumo: Este trabalho apresenta uma análise do motor de indução trifásico (MIT), que é um dos motores mais utilizados em aplicações industriais, e de diferentes metodologias de controle de velocidade aplicadas para este tipo de motor. A princípio realizou-se um estudo do funcionamento do MIT sem nenhum tipo de controle, para somente depois analisar-se tanto técnicas clássicas e já bastante difundidas no controle deste tipo de máquina como também um tipo específico de controlador robusto, a fim de utilizá-lo para substituir os controladores clássicos na intenção de obter-se um desempenho superior. O controlador robusto escolhido foi do tipo com Estrutura Variável e Modos Deslizantes (CEV-MD). Este trabalho foca no estudo do Controle Vetorial Indireto com Orientação sobre o Fluxo do Rotor, sendo utilizados juntamente deste método um controlador clássico (do tipo PI, Proporcional Integral) e o controlador robusto projetado (do tipo CEV-MD), no intuito de realizar-se uma comparação entre o desempenho dos dois controladores mediante diferentes condições de operação, incluindo-se variação de parâmetros do motor e falhas de queda de tensão nos terminais da máquina. Todos os estudos e projetos resultaram em um conjunto de simulações no ambiente MATLAB/Simulink, a partir das quais constatou-se que o controlador robusto projetado apresentou um desempenho um pouco superior ao do PI, tanto no controle da velocidade quanto em relação a tolerar as falhas de queda de tensão. / Mestre

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2018-11-14T12:32:26Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Luiz Alberto do Couto - 2018.pdf: 3388759 bytes, checksum: 70a8308aa7f38be796baef2403a183c3 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2018-11-14T13:00:55Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Luiz Alberto do Couto - 2018.pdf: 3388759 bytes, checksum: 70a8308aa7f38be796baef2403a183c3 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-14T13:00:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Luiz Alberto do Couto - 2018.pdf: 3388759 bytes, checksum: 70a8308aa7f38be796baef2403a183c3 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-31 / This work presents an implementation and analysis of traction control and linear trepidation techniques, driven by a six - pulse fully controlled three - phase rectifier. The methodology addresses the construction of real reality, modeling by method of system identification, design and tuning of optimization processes. The comparisons between the techniques are their characteristics and their performances when performing statistics, verifying the robustness of the series in non-linear systems. Both techniques perform satisfactory in the execution of the control, correlating with the. / Este trabalho apresenta a implementação e análise das técnicas de controle por modos deslizantes e preditivo não linear, aplicados no controle de velocidade de motor de corrente contínua de excitação independente, acionado por retificador trifásico totalmente controlado de seis pulsos. A metodologia aborda a construção da bancada real, modelagem por método de identificação de sistemas, projeto e sintonia dos controladores utilizando processo de otimização. São realizadas comparações entre as referidas técnicas destacando suas características e desempenhos quando executadas em condições semelhantes, verificando a robustez das mesmas atuando em sistemas não lineares. Ambas as técnicas apresentam desempenho satisfatório na execução do controle, dependendo portanto, da análise do sistema a ser implementado para a determinação do método apropriado.

Modernos processos industriais requerem rigorosos requisitos, tais como, eficiÃncia, desempenho dinÃmico, caracterÃsticas de funcionamento flexÃveis, facilidade de diagnÃstico e comunicaÃÃo com um computador principal. Com a evoluÃÃo da micro-eletrÃnica e dos dispositivos de potÃncia notou-se uma tendÃncia no uso de controladores digitais a fim se obter as caracterÃsticas supracitadas. Nestes processos, a utilizaÃÃo da conversÃo eletromecÃnica da energia dar-se de forma intensa, assim Âe comum a utilizaÃÃo de motores elÃtricos em diversos tipos de acionamentos. O presente trabalho utiliza uma metodologia de controle do motor de induÃÃo trifÃsico do tipo âgaiola de esquiloâ com a tÃcnica de controle por modos deslizantes. Aplicou-se, entÃo, a metodologia para controle de posiÃÃo do motor. O trabalho propÃe, ainda, um comparativo da tÃcnica proposta com outra jà implementada em trabalhos precursores, sendo uma teoria clÃssica para acionamentos desse tipo de motor denominado de controle por orientaÃÃo de campo. Programou-se ambas as tÃcnicas em um Digital Signal Controller (DSC) e aplicou-o no posicionamento do motor de induÃÃo. Com a realizaÃÃo do comparativo observou-se o destaque do Slide Mode Control (SMC) em relaÃÃo ao controle por orientaÃÃo de campo nos ensaios feitos na planta de aplicaÃÃo. Tanto em desempenho computacional quanto no controle das posiÃÃes do motor, a tÃcnica de controle deslizante se mostrou mais eficiente e robusta, apresentando uma reduÃÃo nos erros de corrente do motor, bem como um melhor rastreio da posiÃÃo de referÃncia. / Modern industrial processes require stringent requirements, such as efficiency, performance dynamic, flexible operating characteristics, diagnostics facilities and communication with a main computer. With the development of micro- electronics and power devices there has been a trend in the use of digital controllers to obtain the characteristics mentioned above. In those processes, the use of eletromechanical energy conversion are shown in many type of driverâs machine. Thus it is commom to find electric motors in this aplications. Then, this work uses a methodology of control for a three phase induction motor of type âsquirrel cageâ using the technique Sliding Mode Control (SMC). After that, It was applied the methodology for position control of the motor. This work, also proposes a comparison of the proposed technique with other classical technique for this type of aplications. The name of the classical technique is Field Oriented Control (FOC). Therefore, a Digital Signal Controller (DSC) was programmed for both techiniques and applied in the positioning of the inductionmotor. After the comparative analyse, itâs noted that SMC technique was better than FOC technique. Both in computational performance as in the control of motor positions the Slide Mode Control technique has been shown more efficient and robust. Also a reduction in errors of the motorâs current and a better tracking of the reference position was obtained with this technique.

This paper proposes the position control of an articulated manipulator of two degrees of freedom driven by induction motors with a controller in the current loop. The work includes the mechanical modeling of the handler that will be developed from the direct and inverse kinematics and position control of induction motors operating system and uncoupled allocated in the manipulator. Thus, we developed two strategies for control of manipulators with two degrees of freedom, one using the scheme for field-oriented vector control and other means of indirect sliding mode control (Sliding-Mode Control - SMC). These control strategies are applied to current loop of induction motors that drive the manipulator. The parameters of the position controller of manipulator are taken into account in calculating the controller parameters of the current control loop, in order to obtain satisfactory results in the positioning the degrees of freedom. In addition, we performed a comparative study between the indirect field-oriented vector control and sliding mode control applied to the current loop. The advantage of the SMC compared to the indirect field-oriented vector control due to the first had in its control law, developed in this thesis, the use of position degree of freedom manipulator applied directly in the control law, while the second acted only as a disturbed rejection controller for the position loop. The Proportional-Integral (PI) was used in the position and speed loops for both current control algorithms to provide a standard for comparison between. For the purpose of implementing the control system individually for each engine and motors coupled to the manipulator used a digital signal processor. / O presente trabalho propÃe o controle de posiÃÃo de um manipulador articulado de dois graus de liberdade acionado a partir de motores de induÃÃo trifÃsicos com um controlador na malha de corrente. O trabalho contempla a modelagem mecÃnica do manipulador que serà desenvolvida a partir das cinemÃticas direta e inversa e o controle de posiÃÃo dos motores de induÃÃo atuando desacoplados do sistema e alocados no manipulador. Deste modo, foram desenvolvidas duas estratÃgias de controle de manipuladores com dois graus de liberdade, uma utilizando o esquema por controle vetorial de campo orientado indireto e outra atravÃs de controle por modos deslizantes (Sliding Mode Control â SMC). Estas estratÃgias de controle sÃo aplicadas a malha de corrente dos motores de induÃÃo que acionam o manipulador. Os parÃmetros do controlador de posiÃÃo dos manipuladores sÃo levados em consideraÃÃo no cÃlculo dos parÃmetros do controlador da malha de controle de corrente, de modo a se obter resultados satisfatÃrios no posicionamento dos graus de liberdade. AlÃm disso, foi realizado um estudo comparativo entre o controle vetorial de campo orientado indireto e o controle de modos deslizantes aplicado na malha de corrente. A vantagem do SMC em relaÃÃo ao controle vetorial de campo orientado indireto deveu-se a que o primeiro possuÃa em sua lei de controle desenvolvida nesta tese a utilizaÃÃo direta da posiÃÃo do grau de liberdade do manipulador, enquanto que o segundo atuava somente como um controlador com rejeiÃÃo ao distÃrbio. O controlador Proporcional-Integral (PI) foi utilizado nas malhas de posiÃÃo e velocidade de modo a fornecer um padrÃo de comparaÃÃo confiÃvel entre os controladores de corrente. Com a finalidade de implementar o sistema de controle de cada motor individualmente e dos motores acoplados ao manipulador utilizou-se um processador digital de sinais.

Sistemas de levitação eletromagnética são de interesse quando se necessita de tecnologia envolvendo redução de atrito, atuação sem contato físico, máquinas rotativas e trens de alta velocidade. Devido à presença de não linearidades em sua dinâmica, pesquisadores têm dado atenção ao desenvolvimento de controladores mais sofisticados, com o objetivo de melhorar o desempenho desses sistemas. Controladores lineares apresentam limitações na faixa de operação da variável controlada e, geralmente apresentam baixa robustez quando aplicados em sistemas não lineares. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver controladores não lineares com diferentes estruturas e analisá-los quando aplicados em um protótipo do sistema físico. Inicialmente, o sistema é modelado matematicamente através da abordagem fenomenológica. Em seguida, os parâmetros do modelo são identificados através de dados obtidos experimentalmente. Conhecendo bem a dinâmica do sistema através do modelo, são projetados três controladores de diferentes estruturas utilizando simulações computacionais. O primeiro é o PID clássico, controle linear amplamente utilizado em processos industriais. O segundo controlador é um PID com topologia não linear, denominado NPID. Este visa reduzir as limitações encontradas no PID linear, através de funções não lineares em seus termos. O último e mais complexo se trata do controle por modos deslizantes (SMC). Também com estrutura não linear, o SMC possui como característica intrínseca a robustez a variações da planta. Ao final, são realizadas simulações e os controladores avaliados são implementados de maneira digital em um hardware de controle e aplicados em uma planta piloto de levitação eletromagnética. Os resultados de desempenho obtidos permitem avaliar qual topologia de controlador melhor se enquadra diante dessa aplicação. / Electromagnetic levitation systems are of interest when it is necessary the use of technology involving reduction of friction, acting without physical contact, rotating machinery and high speed trains. Due to the nonlinear dynamics, researchers have paid attention to the development of more sophisticated controllers, in order to improve the performance of these systems. Linear controllers have limitations in the operating range of the controlled variable and generally have low robustness when applied to linear systems. The objective of this work is to develop nonlinear controllers with different structures and analyze them, when applied to a prototype of the physical system. Initially the system is modeled mathematically through the phenomenological approach. Then the model parameters are identified by experimentally obtained data. Knowing the dynamic of the system through the model, three different controllers are designed using computer simulations. The first is the classic PID, a linear control widely used in industrial processes. The second controller is a PID with nonlinear topology, called NPID. This controller is intended to reduce the limitations found in the linear PID through non linear functions on its terms. The last and most complex is the sliding mode control (SMC). Also a nonlinear structure, the SMC has the intrinsic characteristic of robustness to variations of the plant. In the end, the simulations are performed and the evaluated controllers are implemented in digital form in a hardware control and applied in a pilot plant of an electromagnetic levitation system. With the performance results it is possible to verify which controller topology best fits this application.

Les systèmes de régulation des turbomoteurs actuels sont basés sur des architectures complexes que les constructeurs tendent à rendre plus modulaires avec des technologies plus économiques tout en garantissant un niveau de fiabilité supérieur ou égal. Dans ce contexte, la surveillance du circuit carburant, qui a pour but de déceler les dysfonctionnements des composants hydrauliques critiques, permet de réduire le coût de maintenance, d'améliorer le niveau de maintenabilité et d'assurer la disponibilité des turbomoteurs. La présente étude porte sur l'élaboration de méthodes de diagnostic performantes et robustes permettant la détection et la localisation des défauts impactant les fonctions hydrauliques primaires du circuit carburant. Des méthodes existantes de génération de résidus à base de modèles non linéaires sont présentées et appliquées au cas du circuit carburant. L'approche analytique pour le découplage, combinée avec des filtres de Kalman étendus, permet la structuration des résidus pour assurer la localisation des défauts. Une nouvelle approche basée sur la théorie de platitude différentielle est proposée pour le diagnostic de défauts des systèmes non linéaires avec une application au cas du circuit carburant. Les différentiateurs à modes glissants sont utilisés pour l'estimation des dérivées de signaux nécessaires à l'application de certaines méthodes de génération de résidus. Des simulations numériques illustrent la pertinence des résultats obtenus. Une application expérimentale est présentée en utilisant un jeu de données réelles issues d'un banc d'essais partiel et fournies par la société Turbomeca du groupe SAFRAN. / The current gas turbine regulation systems are based on complex architectures that manufacturers tend to make more modular with more cost effective technologies while ensuring a greater or equal level of reliability. In this context, the fuel system health monitoring, which aims to identify critical hydraulic components dysfunction, allows to reduce maintenance costs, to improve maintainability level and to ensure gas turbine availability. The present study focuses on the development of performant and robust diagnosis methods for the detection and isolation of faults affecting primary fuel system hydraulic functions. Existing nonlinear model based residual generation methods are presented and applied to the fuel system. The analytical approach for decoupling, combined with extended Kalman filters, helps fault isolation by generating residual structures. A new approach based on differential flatness theory is proposed for nonlinear systems fault diagnosis with an application to the fuel system. Sliding mode differentiators are used to estimate derived signals that are necessary for the application of some residual generation methods. Numerical simulations illustrate the efficiency of obtained results. An experimental application is presented using a real data set from a partial test bench provided by Turbomeca company of the SAFRAN group.

Abstract : Over the past three decades, various fields have witnessed a successful application of active magnetic bearing (AMB) systems. Their favorable features include supporting high-speed rotation, low power consumption, and rotor dynamics control. Although their losses are much lower than roller bearings, these losses could limit the operation in some applications such as flywheel energy storage systems and vacuum applications. Many researchers focused their efforts on boosting magnetic bearings energy efficiency via minimizing currents supplied to electromagnetic coils either by a software solution or a hardware solution. According to a previous study, we adopt the hardware solution in this thesis. More specifically, we investigate developing an efficient and yet simple control scheme for regulating a permanent magnet-biased active magnetic bearing system. The control objective here is to suppress the rotor vibrations and reduce the corresponding control currents as possible throughout a wide operating range. Although adopting the hardware approach could achieve an energy-efficient AMB, employing an advanced control scheme could achieve a further reduction in power consumption. Many advanced control techniques have been proposed in the literature to achieve a satisfactory performance. However, the complexity of the majority of control schemes and the potential requirement of powerful platform could discourage their application in practice. The motivation behind this work is to improve the closed-loop performance without the need to do model identification and following the conventional procedure for developing a model-based controller. Here, we propose applying the hybridization concept to exploit the classical PID control and some nonlinear control tools such as first- and second-order sliding mode control, high gain observer, backstepping, and adaptive techniques to develop efficient and practical control schemes. All developed control schemes in this thesis are digitally implemented and validated on the eZdsp F2812 control board. Therefore, the applicability of the proposed model-free techniques for practical application is demonstrated. Furthermore, some of the proposed control schemes successfully achieve a good compromise between the objectives of rotor vibration attenuation and control currents minimization over a wide operating range. / Résumé: Au cours des trois dernières décennies, divers domaines ont connu une application réussie des systèmes de paliers magnétiques actifs (PMA). Leurs caractéristiques favorables comprennent une capacité de rotation à grande vitesse, une faible consommation d'énergie, et le contrôle de la dynamique du rotor. Bien que leurs pertes soient beaucoup plus basses que les roulements à rouleaux, ces pertes pourraient limiter l'opération dans certaines applications telles que les systèmes de stockage d'énergie à volant d'inertie et les applications sous vide. De nombreux chercheurs ont concentré leurs efforts sur le renforcement de l'efficacité énergétique des paliers magnétiques par la minimisation des courants fournis aux bobines électromagnétiques soit par une solution logicielle, soit par une solution matérielle. Selon une étude précédente, nous adoptons la solution matérielle dans cette thèse. Plus précisément, nous étudions le développement d'un système de contrôle efficace et simple pour réguler un système de palier magnétique actif à aimant permanent polarisé. L'objectif de contrôle ici est de supprimer les vibrations du rotor et de réduire les courants de commande correspondants autant que possible tout au long d'une large plage de fonctionnement. Bien que l'adoption de l'approche matérielle pourrait atteindre un PMA économe en énergie, un système de contrôle avancé pourrait parvenir à une réduction supplémentaire de la consommation d'énergie. De nombreuses techniques de contrôle avancées ont été proposées dans la littérature pour obtenir une performance satisfaisante. Cependant, la complexité de la majorité des systèmes de contrôle et l'exigence potentielle d’une plate-forme puissante pourrait décourager leur application dans la pratique. La motivation derrière ce travail est d'améliorer les performances en boucle fermée, sans la nécessité de procéder à l'identification du modèle et en suivant la procédure classique pour développer un contrôleur basé sur un modèle. Ici, nous proposons l'application du concept d'hybridation pour exploiter le contrôle PID classique et certains outils de contrôle non linéaires tels que contrôle par mode glissement du premier et du second ordre, observateur à grand gain, backstepping et techniques adaptatives pour développer des systèmes de contrôle efficaces et pratiques. Tous les systèmes de contrôle développés dans cette thèse sont numériquement mis en oeuvre et évaluées sur la carte de contrôle eZdsp F2812. Par conséquent, l'applicabilité des techniques de modèle libre proposé pour l'application pratique est démontrée. En outre, certains des régimes de contrôle proposés ont réalisé avec succès un bon compromis entre les objectifs au rotor d’atténuation des vibrations et la minimisation des courants de commande sur une grande plage de fonctionnement.

Les avancées technologiques, dues à l’avènement des nouvelles technologies d’information etde communication, ont donné naissance au concept des Systèmes de Transport Intelligents (STI).Les objectifs de telles applications consistent à apporter des solutions efficaces pour faire face auxproblèmes quotidiens des phénomènes de congestion. L’importance ainsi que les enjeux socioéconomiquesposés par les congestions imposent d’introduire des solutions innovantes utilisantles avancées récentes dans le domaine de la commande. Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse sesituent dans le cadre des STI et traitent des problèmes de la commande du trafic autoroutier et surles Voies Rapides Urbaines (VRU). Parmi les techniques de commande utilisée, nos travaux se focalisentprincipalement sur le contrôle d’accès isolé. L’objectif d’une telle action de régulation estd’agir sur le débit des rampes d’entrée, via des feux de signalisation, afin de maintenir la densitésur la voie principale aux alentours d’un seuil critique permettant ainsi, une utilisation optimale del’infrastructure autoroutière ou des VRU. L’algorithme proposé repose sur l’utilisation conjointede la platitude différentielle et le concept de la commande par mode glissant d’ordre supérieur. Laprincipale caractéristique de la platitude réside dans sa capacité à assurer une génération de trajectoiressans intégration d’aucune équation différentielle du modèle étudié. L’intérêt de la commandepar mode glissant d’ordre supérieur est de permettre le suivi de trajectoires d’une manière robustemême en présence d’incertitudes et de perturbations typiques aux systèmes de trafic. La pertinencede l’approche proposée est validée via un ensemble de simulations avec des données réelles d’uneportion de l’autoroute A6 du périphérique de Paris. De plus, la validation a été enrichie par l’évaluationde performances basée sur des critères couramment utilisés par les exploitants. L’ensembledes résultats ouvre la voie à plusieurs perspectives d’amélioration et de généralisation de cettecommande à des réseaux routiers plus complexes. / The technological advances, due to the advent of the new information and communication technologieshave given rise to the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) concept. The objectivesof such applications are to provide effective solutions to deal with the daily problems of congestion.The importance as well as the socio-economic challenges raised by congestion requires theintroduction of innovative solutions based on the latest advances in the automatic control field. Theworks presented in this thesis lie in the frame of ITS and treat the problems of the freeway andUrban Express Routes (UER) control. Among the used control techniques, our works focus mainlyon the isolated ramp metering. The objective of this control measurement is to act on the on-rampflow, through traffic lights, in order to keep the traffic density on the mainstream section around acritical threshold allowing then an optimal use of the freeway or UER infrastructures. The proposedalgorithm rests on the jointly use of differential flatness and high order sliding mode control(HOSMC) concept. The main characteristic of the differential flatness lies in its ability to providea trajectory generation, without integration of any differential equation of the studied model. Onthe other hand, the advantage of HOSMC is to allow a robust trajectory tracking even in the case ofthe presence of uncertainties and disturbances which are typical to traffic systems. The relevanceof the proposed approach is validated through a set of numerical simulations using real-data froma part of the A6 freeway from Paris ring. In addition, the validation step has been enriched by theperformance evaluation based on a set of criteria commonly used by the freeway practitioners. Theobtained results paves the way to several perspectives in order to improve the proposed controlapproach and its generalization for more complex freeway networks.

Magnetorheological (MR) dampers are adaptive devices whose properties can be adjusted through the application of a controlled voltage signal. A semi-active suspension system incorporating MR dampers combines the advantages of both active and passive suspensions. For this reason, there has been a continuous effort to develop control algorithms for MR-damped vehicle suspension systems to meet the requirements of the automotive industry. The overall aims of this thesis are twofold: (i) The investigation of non-parametric techniques for the identification of the nonlinear dynamics of an MR damper. (ii) The implementation of these techniques in the investigation of MR damper control of a vehicle suspension system that makes minimal use of sensors, thereby reducing the implementation cost and increasing system reliability. The novel contributions of this thesis can be listed as follows: 1- Nonparametric identification modelling of an MR damper using Chebyshev polynomials to identify the damping force from both simulated and experimental data. 2- The neural network identification of both the direct and inverse dynamics of an MR damper through an experimental procedure. 3- The experimental evaluation of a neural network MR damper controller relative to previously proposed controllers. 4- The application of the neural-based damper controller trained through experimental data to a semi-active vehicle suspension system. 5- The development and evaluation of an improved control strategy for a semi-active car seat suspension system using an MR damper. Simulated and experimental validation data tests show that Chebyshev polynomials can be used to identify the damper force as an approximate function of the displacement, velocity and input voltage. Feed-forward and recurrent neural networks are used to model both the direct and inverse dynamics of MR dampers. It is shown that these neural networks are superior to Chebyshev polynomials and can reliably represent both the direct and inverse dynamic behaviours of MR dampers. The neural network models are shown to be reasonably robust against significant temperature variation. Experimental tests show that an MR damper controller based a recurrent neural network (RNN) model of its inverse dynamics is superior to conventional controllers in achieving a desired damping force, apart from being more cost-effective. This is confirmed by introducing such a controller into a semi-active suspension, in conjunction with an overall system controller based on the sliding mode control algorithm. Control performance criteria are evaluated in the time and frequency domains in order to quantify the suspension effectiveness under bump and random road excitations. A study using the modified Bouc-Wen model for the MR damper, and another study using an actual damper fitted in a hardware-in-the-loop- simulation (HILS), both show that the inverse RNN damper controller potentially gives significantly superior ride comfort and vehicle stability. It is also shown that a similar control strategy is highly effective when used for a semi-active car seat suspension system incorporating an MR damper.