"Preface Scope of the book is to give to people with the knowledge of the main concepts of automatic control and signals and systems analysis a self contained recipient of advanced techniques both in linear system theory and in control design. This is achieved including selected theoretical backgrounds, many numerical exercises and MATLAB examples. In the book we propose a complete and easy for the reader handbook of advanced topics in automatic control including the LQR and the H-Infinite approach. Moreover our task has been also to face advanced concepts of modeling analysis and to present the essential items of the new technique of LMI in order to show how it can be considered as an unifying tool for system analysis and controller design. The robustness property of the closed control loop is the guideline of the book. The text deals with advanced automatic control techniques with particular attention to their robustness. Robustness means to guarantee the stability of a system in presence of uncertainty. Uncertainty is due to the model itself or to the use of approximated models. Many books regarding both the H-infinite control and the LQR control have been proposed since 1980 , the LMI technique has become well-known in the control community, and MATLAB toolboxes to solve advanced control problems have been developed. However, often the previously mentioned subjects are presented only for specialists and the referred books are excellent sources for researchers and PhD students so that this book the previously mentioned topics are integrated in an easy and compact way. This book is a compendium of many ordered subjects"--