In this thesis, modeling and control of the halfÂwave rectified rotor brushless synchronousrnmotor is presented. The motor has a range of promising performance characteristics thatrnare suitable for electric vehicle (EV) traction drive applications. Its mechanical structurernis simple and robust with brushless means of field excitation capable of variable fieldrnflux control over a wide range of operating speed and torque. To use the motor for suchrnapplication, accurate modeling and characterization of the motor is needed. Two differentrnmodeling paradigms were used to study the behavior of the motor.rnThe finite element method (FEM) was used to first verify the principle of operationrnand next to confirm the analytical model calculations. COMSOL Multiphysics was usedrnto perform the two dimensional (2D) FEM analysis. Besides the FEM model, a simplifiedrnanalytical model and Simscape based model convenient for MATLAB/Simulink simulaÂrntions and control system design purposes were also built using the magnetic equivalentrncircuit concept. The analytical model developed in this thesis uses a closed form anaÂrnlytical expression for the field winding current, ifd, derived from observing FEM modelrnbehavior. This enabled a more complete description of basic motor characteristics thatrnallowed determination of motor capabilities, limits and design of controllers which werernnot possible without the use of the such closed form expressions. Comparison of the reÂrnsponses of those models was performed. Field oriented control (FOC) based architecturernwas used to design and implement a velocity control system for both the FEM based andrnSimscape based models.rnThe results show that the three models agree as long as effects due to the inductancernvariation of the FEM model because of iron cores saturation (motor load) and stator slotsrnare taken into account. The three models showed a logarithmic relationship between thernbias frequency fb and motor torque, field winding current and flux. The field windingrnflux was shown to be linearly dependent on the amplitude of the field excitation currentrncomponent If of the stator current for a fixed bias frequency fb. The decoupled naturernof field flux and torque currents allowed implementation simple PI based speed and curÂrnrent controllers. In terms of field winding flux linkage variation, the analytical showed arn1.7%, Simscape a 14.8% and FEM a 18.4% of maximum deviation from the ideal conÂrnstant flux. As long as the basic motor characteristics such as flux, torque and efficiencyrnare considered, the models can be used interchangeably.