BEng Mechatronic Engineering with Industrial Experience / Course details

This unit will cover the following:

Building on the programme units "Control Systems I" and "Engineering Analysis", this unit will introduce modern state space methods for analysis and design of control systems. Concepts will be illustrated with examples and design exercises.

• Review of state space concepts
• Case study: design example
• Controller design with full state feedback
• Pole assignment, basic introduction to LQR
• State estimation and estimator design
• Compensator design: combining state feedback control and state estimation
• Tracking control: introduction of a reference input
• Controllers with integral action
• Digital control: dynamic analysis and design of discrete-time systems

The course unit aims to:

• Introduce modern methods for control systems design, based on state space models
• Show the relationship between state-space and classical design methods

• Introduce the concept and methodology of sampled-data control
• Illustrate control system design methods through practical case studies

Students will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• Explain the concept of a state-space model for a dynamical system
• Point out the advantages and disadvantages of using state-space methods in control system design
• Outline the reasons for using sampled data in a feedback control system

Intellectual skills

• Design feedback controllers for linear systems, in continuous or discrete time, using state-space methods
• Derive a mathematical model of a sampled-data control system, in state space form
• Analyse the effects of data sampling on the performance of a control system

Practical skills

• Use Matlab and Simulink for control system design

Transferable skills and personal qualities

• Use the relevant Matlab and Simulink tools, for application in other areas

Unseen Written Examination:

Four questions, answer all questions

Duration of the examination: 3 hours

Calculators are permitted

The examination forms 90% of the unit assessment

Coursework:

The number of laboratories: 2

The duration of each laboratory: 3 hours

Assessed by a written report for each laboratory

The coursework forms 10% of the unit assessment