Book excerpt: This book provides an overview of the nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) concept for application to innovative combustion engines. Readers can use this book to become more expert in advanced combustion engine control and to develop and implement their own NMPC algorithms to solve challenging control tasks in the field. The significance of the advantages and relevancy for practice is demonstrated by real-world engine and vehicle application examples. The author provides an overview of fundamental engine control systems, and addresses emerging control problems, showing how they can be solved with NMPC. The implementation of NMPC involves various development steps, including: • reduced-order modeling of the process; • analysis of system dynamics; • formulation of the optimization problem; and • real-time feasible numerical solution of the optimization problem. Readers will see the entire process of these steps, from the fundamentals to several innovative applications. The application examples highlight the actual difficulties and advantages when implementing NMPC for engine control applications. Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of Combustion Engines targets engineers and researchers in academia and industry working in the field of engine control. The book is laid out in a structured and easy-to-read manner, supported by code examples in MATLAB®/Simulink®, thus expanding its readership to students and academics who would like to understand the fundamental concepts of NMPC. Advances in Industrial Control reports and encourages the transfer of technology in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of new work in all aspects of industrial control.