Control Systems Engineering

Overview

Lectures:
1. PRELIMINARIES:
Feedback control, poles and zeros, time domain specifications, Routh stability, discretisation, sampling time and resolution, analogue vs. digital control, s-plane and z-plane.
2. CONTROLLER DESIGN
a. ROOT LOCUS DESIGN: Evans rules, compensator design, applications
b. FREQUENCY DOMAIN DESIGN: Bode plots, compensator design, applications
c. PID CONTROL (analogue and discrete): Zieglar-Nichols tuning method, applications
d. DIRECT DESIGN METHOD, discrete-time design, Method of Ragazzini
e. FREQUENCY RESPONSE BASED DESIGN, Bode plots, w-plane, applications
3. IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES:
Digital simulation, hardware/software limitations, practical issues (aliasing, missing or corrupt data, chattering and deadbands).
4. MATLAB and Simulink tutorials for computer assisted control system design (CACSD).

Design project:
1. Lego Mindstorms-based modelling and control of a physical system
2. Design and implement a control system on the Mindstorms-based physical system based on given specifications such as overshoot, settling time etc.
3. Demonstration and presentation of the final design.

Learning Objectives

General:
After the completion of this module you will be able to:
• Understand classical (analogue) control systems.
• Understand computer-based (digital) feedback control methods.
• Analyse and design simple feedback control systems to meet given performance specifications.
• Gain a good understanding of implementation issues.

Design Project/Laboratories:
• Practical understanding of modelling and controller design of a physical system.
• Importance of desired specifications.
• Practical understanding of software implementation using Matlab/Simulink.
• Hands-on experience of designing and implementing a real-time control system with application to robotics.

Skills

General:
• Understanding of analogue and digital feedback control
• Problem solving
• Use of MATLAB software tools
• Importance of practical issues in converting theory into practice

Design project:
• Implementation and testing of control systems with application to Robotics
• Simulation programming
• Sensor measurements and use of sensors
• Use of control engineering principles to develop working solutions
• Presentation of technical engineering information clearly and concisely in oral and written form

Assessment

Design Project