Advances in Fractional-Order Control for Nonlinear Systems
A special issue of Fractal and Fractional (ISSN 2504-3110). This special issue belongs to the section "Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 17
Special Issue Editors
Interests: autonomous robots; industrial robots; human-robot interaction; visual odometry; visual SLAM; fractional control
Interests: symbiotic assembly systems; agent-based industrial control; cyber physical systems; human–machine interaction; collaborative robotics; self-adapting systems; self-learning systems; semantic technology; modular assembly systems; mechatronic systems; I4.0 engineering education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue brings together recent advances and innovative approaches in the field of fractional-order control applied to nonlinear systems. Fractional calculus, with its ability to model memory and hereditary properties, has emerged as a powerful tool for analysing and controlling the complex dynamical behaviours frequently observed in nonlinear systems. The articles in this collection present cutting-edge research on theoretical developments, stability analysis, controller design, robust and adaptive strategies, optimization techniques, and real-world implementations of fractional-order controllers.
The contributions also address challenges in foundational theory, practical implementation, computational complexity, parameter tuning, and real-time deployment—offering insights into future research directions in this rapidly evolving field.
Key topics include the following:
- Novel stability criteria for fractional-order nonlinear systems, generalized Lyapunov-based analysis methods, and convergence proofs for adaptive fractional controllers.
- Innovative control architectures such as fractional-order PID variants, variable-order controllers, fractional backstepping designs, and hybrid fractional–integer schemes tailored to nonlinear dynamics.
- Applications of fractional-order control in robotics, autonomous systems with complex dynamics, and human–robot interaction.
- Applications in power electronics and motor drives with inherent nonlinearities.
- Applications in biomedical systems exhibiting memory-dependent responses.
- Applications in industrial automation.
- Applications in process control within chemical engineering.
- Applications in mechatronic systems with hysteresis and friction effects.
This Special Issue aims to serve as a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students seeking to understand and apply fractional-order control methods to enhance the performance, robustness, and adaptability of nonlinear systems.
Dr. Masoud Sotoodeh-Bahraini
Dr. Pedro Ferreira
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fractal and Fractional is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- fractional-order control
- nonlinear systems
- fractional calculus
- variable-order controllers
- adaptive control
- robust control
- stability analysis
- Lyapunov methods
- fractional PID controllers
- backstepping control
- memory-dependent systems
- hybrid fractional–integer control
- computational complexity in control
- real-time control systems
- human–robot interaction
- power electronics control
- biomedical systems control
- mechatronic systems
- industrial automation
- process control
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