The purpose of this book is to present a self-contained description of the fundamentals of the theory of nonlinear control systems, with special emphasis on the differential geometric approach. The book is intended as a graduate text as well as a reference to scientists and engineers involved in the analysis and design of feedback systems. The first version of this book was written in 1983, while I was teaching at the Department of Systems Science and Mathematics at Washington University in St. Louis. This new edition integrates my subsequent teaching experience gained at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1987, at the Carl Cranz Gesellschaft in Oberpfaffenhofen in 1987, at the University of California in Berkeley in 1988. In addition to a major rearrangement of the last two Chapters of the first version, this new edition incorporates two additional Chapters at a more elementary level and an exposition of some relevant research findings which have occurred since 1985. In the past few years differential geometry has proved to be an effective means of analysis and design of nonlinear control systems as it was in the past for the Laplace transform, complex variable theory and linear algebra in relation to linear systems. Synthesis problems of longstanding interest like disturbance decoupling, noninteracting control, output regulation, and the shaping of the input-output response, can be dealt with relative ease, on the basis of mathematical concepts that can be easily acquired by a control scientist. This book introduces nonlinear control systems at a level suitable for graduate students and researchers. Chapter 1 introduces invariant distributions, a fundamental tool in the analysis of the internal structure of nonlinear systems. It is shown that a nonlinear system locally exhibits decompositions into parts similar to those introduced by Kalman for linear systems. Chapter 2 explains to what extent global decompositions may exist, corresponding to a partition of the whole state space into lower dimensional subsets. Chapter 3 describes various formats in which the input-output map of a nonlinear system may be represented, and provides a short description of the fundamentals of realization theory. Chapter 4 illustrates how a series of relevant design problems can be solved for a single-input single-output nonlinear system. It explains how a system can be transformed into a linear and controllable one, discusses the role of the nonlinear analogue of the notion of "zero", and describes the problem of asymptotic tracking, model matching and disturbance decoupling. Chapter 5 covers similar subjects for those multivariable nonlinear systems which can be rendered noninteractive by means of static state feedback, and Chapters 6 and 7 are devoted to control via dynamic feedback for a broader class of multivariable nonlinear systems. The book was first published in 1985 as Volume 72 in the series Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences. The new edition has been thoroughly revised and furnished with examples and exercises at the end of each chapter. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Local Decompositions of Control Systems....Pages 1-81 Global Decompositions of Control Systems....Pages 82-111 Input-Output Maps and Realization Theory....Pages 112-144 Elementary Theory of Nonlinear Feedback for Single-Input Single-Output Systems....Pages 145-233 Elementary Theory of Nonlinear Feedback for Multi-Input Multi-Output Systems....Pages 234-288 Geometric Theory of State Feedback: Tools....Pages 289-343 Geometric Theory of State Feedback: Applications....Pages 344-401 Back Matter....Pages 403-479 Contents: Local Decompositions of Control Systems Global Decompositions of Control Systems Input-Output Maps and Realization Theory Elementary Theory of Nonlinear Feedback for Single-Input Single-Output Systems Elementary Theory of Nonlinear Feedback for Multi-Input Multi-Output Systems Geometric Theory of State Feedback: Tools Geometric Theory of State Feedback: Applications Appendix A Appendix B Bibliographical Notes References Subject Index.