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Control Engineering

Module description

The advancement of technology during the 20th century put control engineering on the map - and it still plays a critical role in everything from simple household washing machines to high performance fighter aircraft. This module will give you a fundamental understanding of control engineering for single input single output systems. In particular, you will analyse the fundamental concept of feedback and its impact on system dynamics. You will study the performance of closed loop systems from a time domain and frequency domain perspective. Classical approaches to studying closed loop systems will be introduced including root-locus, Nyquist and Bode diagram methods. The module will also describe a method for parameterizing all stabilizing controllers for a given plant model, and how this result can be used from a design perspective. The module will also introduce the fundamentals of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control, which you will use to analyse and design control systems. The module will describe the concepts of gain and phase margins for assessing the robustness of closed loop systems to modelling uncertainty.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module introduces the concepts of feedback and stability for single input single output systems. It exposes you to standard control concepts and calculations in both the time and frequency domain. The module will introduce the concepts of gain and phase margins for assessing the robustness of closed loop systems to modelling uncertainty. A detailed analysis of proportional, integral and derivative controllers for single input single output control loops will be explored. The aim is to present several analytical, numerical and graphical techniques to analyse and design control systems for single input single output systems. It also provides an introduction to the Control Engineering toolbox in Matlab for use as a design tool to realise and evaluate the performance of control systems.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Exemplify, through analytical and simulation work, knowledge and understanding of basic concepts required for the analysis and interpretation of systems dynamics
• 2. Illustrate, through analytical and simulation work, knowledge and understanding of the power and limitations of feedback systems
• 3. Derive simple performance specifications for closed-loop systems and analyse simple examples using analytical and simulation techniques
• 4. With limited guidance, use computational tools to design and analyse control systems

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Reveal improved analytical design skills
• 6. Show improved ability to interpret data in terms of mathematical models
• 7. Apply your theoretical knowledge to the solution of a real problem

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Illustrate basic project management skills: setting realistic targets, allocating tasks and reviewing progress
• 9. Demonstrate improved written, graphical and oral communication skills

Syllabus plan

1. A review of transfer functions of linear systems
2. Block diagram manipulation
3. Open and closed-loop control systems
4. Sinusoidal response of linear systems
5. Nyquist plots
6. Bode diagrams
7. Sensitivity of control systems to parameter variations
8. Disturbance rejection
9. Transient response
10. Steady-state error
11. The stability of linear feedback systems
12. Routh Hurwitz criterion
13. Youla parameterizations of all stabilizing controllers
14. Nyquist Stability criterion
15. Root locus plots
16. PID control and Ziegler-Nichols tuning
17. Gain and phase margins
18. Coprime factorization of transfer functions

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Reassessment will be by a single written exam only worth 100% of the module. For deferred candidates, the mark will be uncapped. For referred candidates, the mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Dorf, Richard C Modern Control Systems 13th edition Reading, Mass; Wokingham: Addison-Wesley 2016 978-0132451925
• Franklin G.F., Powell J.D. and Emami-Naeini A. Feedback Control of Dynamic Systems 8th edition Pearson 2019
• N. S. Nise Control Systems Engineering John Wiley 2022 0-471-44577-0