Search

This paper argues the case for emulation-based virtual laboratories in control engineering education. It demonstrates that such emulation experiments can give students an industrially relevant educational experience at relatively low cost. The paper also describes a particular emulation-based system that has been developed with the aim of giving students an introduction to real-world control engineering design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an interactive module for learning both the fundamental and practical issues of servo systems. This module, developed using Simulink in conjunction with the Matlab graphical user interface (Matlab-GUI) tool, is used to supplement conventional lectures in control engineering and robotics subjects. First, the paper introduces the theoretical background of servo systems. Then, the interactive module is presented, with a description of its main features as well some hints on how to integrate Simulink models within Matlab-GUI. Some of the module's capabilities are illustrated through classroom examples. Finally, the experience of putting this into use and student assessment of the tool are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development, structure, implementation, and some applications of a remote laboratory for teaching automatic control concepts to engineering students. There are two applications: formation control of mobile robots and a ball-plate system. In teaching control engineering, there are two main approaches to control design: model-based control and non-model-based control. Students are given insight into: 1) for model-based control: identification of real processes (i.e., dealing with noise, choosing the sampling time, observing nonlinear effects at startup, pairing input–output variables); and 2) for non-model-based control: the advantages and disadvantages of auto-tuning techniques. The paper concludes by presenting an evaluation of these remote labs and discussing the advantages of using them as complementary tools for teaching control engineering at the Bachelor's and Master's level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the results of a feedback study for a remote laboratory used in the education of control engineering students. The goal is to show the effectiveness of the remote laboratory on examination results. To provide an overview, the two applications of the remote laboratory are addressed: 1) the Stewart platform, and 2) the quadruple water tank system. Combining both applications allows a broad spectrum of practical examples featuring challenging control aspects such as multiple-input–multiple-output control, decoupling, non-minimum phase systems, open-loop unstable systems, and PID control design. The remote laboratory feedback study was performed using a five-point Likert-type scale survey to elicit the students’ level of satisfaction with the laboratory. Three years of student examination results were also studied to compare performance before and after integrating the remote laboratory. In the first of these years there was no use of the remote laboratory. In the second year, the remote laboratory was introduced on a voluntary basis, and in the third year the remote laboratory was obligatory. Student feedback indicates that the remote laboratory needs further development to counter its limitations. A major conclusion of the survey was that there is keen interest in the remote laboratory to provide practical experience in the training of a control engineer. It can be concluded that the remote laboratory has a positive effect on student examination results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper introduces a low-cost LEGO Mindstorms NXT motor system for teaching classical and modern control theories in standard third-year undergraduate courses. The LEGO motor system can be used in conjunction with MATLAB, Simulink, and several necessary toolboxes to demonstrate: 1) a modeling technique; 2) proportional-integral-differential (PID) control; and 3) state feedback control and estimator design. This paper describes the use of these demonstrations during three lab sessions and illustrates their usefulness for helping students to understand the modeling and control systems theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development and experimental evaluation of an e-laboratory platform in the field of robotics. The system in its current configuration is designed to enable distance training of students in real scenarios of robot manipulator programming. From a technological perspective, the research work presented in this paper is directed towards the adaptation of concepts and techniques developed in the field of telerobotics and virtual reality, and their integration in such e-laboratory settings. This paper focuses particularly on the educational impact of such systems. The goal is to assess the performance of e-laboratory scenarios in terms of the efficacy of training provided to students. The results of a pilot experimental study are presented, providing a comparative evaluation for three training modalities: real, remote, and virtual training on robot manipulator programming. The experiments were conducted according to an evaluation protocol specially designed for the considered target training task, using scoring charts to obtain quantitative performance measures and assess the performance of the student groups participating in the course. Training, as a dynamic process, is approached according to a classical three dimensional model, and performance scores are accordingly assessed in these dimensions (namely: low-level versus mid and high-level skills and understanding). The obtained results reveal certain differences between the three groups, particularly as related to the low-level skill training score, giving some insight about the training ‘dimensions’ that are expected to be mostly affected by the absence of physical (or realistic virtual) presence in a real hands-on experimentation. Statistical analysis indicates, however, that, despite these apparent differences, such e-laboratory modules can be integrated quite effectively in practical scenarios, creating virtual training environments that can provide adequate learning elements, as related particularly to mid and high-level skill acquisition. Further work and large-scale studies are still needed, though, in order to explore the extent to which such a general conclusion is valid in different training settings, and to form the basis of a more theoretical evaluation for a comprehensive understanding of the pedagogical differences between real, virtual, and remote learning/training methodologies and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new methodology, Power Block Geometry (PBG), for the presentation of power electronics topologies that process ac voltage. PBG's strategy uses formal methods based on a geometrical representation with particular rules and defines a universe with axioms and conjectures to establish a formation law. It allows power electronics configurations observed in the technical literature to be obtained by just following PBG's proposed rules, taking a systematic approach and using the familiar concept of connection blocks. Such an approach provides the formal outline needed for a comprehensive didactic presentation . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a significant advance in a reactive blended learning methodology applied to an introductory control engineering course. This proposal was based on the inclusion of a reactive element (a fuzzy-logic-based controller) designed to regulate the workload for each student according to his/her activity and performance. The contribution of this proposal stands on the inclusion of elements related to motivational factors in the students. Student motivation has been widely identified as a key factor for the academic success of every teaching–learning activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers are widely used in process control, and consequently they are described in most of the textbooks on automatic control. However, rather than presenting the overall design process, the examples given in such textbooks are intended to illuminate specific focused aspects of selection, tuning and implementation of the controller. This paper describes in detail the design of a PID controller for temperature control of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) microreactor showing how different aspects, which necessarily are taught separately, interact in a real-world design. After setting the design targets by taking the hardware limitations into consideration, a continuous time controller, having two degrees of freedom, is designed by placing its dominant pair of poles using the root locus technique. Then, the integrator wind-up is addressed, the controller is translated into a discrete time version and, after implementation, the experimental performances are measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, instructional material on the design of robust controllers that applies to introductory graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on control is provided. The main objective is the presentation of key concepts and interpretations that help students learn robust control design. The use of recently developed techniques in robust control such as H∞, μ analysis, and synthesis is explored. Emphasis is given to the modeling of the robust control problem with the system requirements described in a unified approach using weighting functions and linear fractional transformations (LFTs). Also, the results of a conventional lead-lag are included to reinforce the concept of robustness. The students should understand the basics of robust control using the MATLAB/Simulink platform and a hardware-in-the-loop experiment with a magnetic levitation system, which is considered a good plant for analysis and control design since it is a nonlinear unstable plant with practical use in high-speed transportation and magnetic bearings. The hardware-in-the-loop experiments are suitable for assessment during the final two semesters of engineering courses and are useful to further develop the students' skills in control engineering. The control algorithms are evaluated in the LabVIEW environment, which introduces the students to industrial platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a laboratory course in real-time software for dynamic systems control. In the first part of the course, real-time concepts employed by modern real-time operating systems are taught with laboratory assignments. In the second part, students are required to write real-time software for dynamic systems control using the concepts that they learned in the first part. Real-time programming is usually avoided in teaching a feedback control laboratory course, since it has generally been considered difficult. However, student evaluation results for this course show that real-time programming can be successfully included in a feed- back control laboratory course. From this course, students are able to obtain working knowledge of both real-time concepts and real-time programming for dynamic systems control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the rationale and the method[H ology behind a senior-level elective course offered on fieldbus standards to computer engineering students. Although new digital fieldbus standards have major advantages over the traditional process control technologies, the acceptance of these standards have been rather slow because of the steep learning curves. As a result of increased popularity of these standards in this region, there is a strong demand for fieldbus knowledgeable engineers. The course has been offered twice and has been popular among senior students. In this paper, the. experiences, the resources used for the course, and the student survey results are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates how nonlinear programming and simulation tools, which are available in packages such as MATLAB and SIMULINK, can easily be used to solve optimal control problems with state- and/or input-dependent inequality constraints. The method presented is illustrated with a model of a single-link manipulator. The method is suitable to be taught to advanced undergraduate and Master's level students in control engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The root-locus method is a well-known and commonly used tool in control system analysis and design. It is an important topic in introductory undergraduate engineering control disciplines. Although complementary root locus (plant with negative gain) is not as common as root locus (plant with positive gain) and in many introductory textbooks for control systems is not presented, it has been shown a valuable tool in control system design. This paper shows that complementary root locus can be plotted using only the well-known construction rules to plot root locus. It can offer for the students a better comprehension on this subject. These results present a procedure to avoid problems that appear in root-locus plots for plants with the same number of poles and zeros. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a remote laboratory of automatic control is presented. The main target of this laboratory is to allow students to easily interact with a set of physical processes through the Internet. The student will be able to run experiments, change control parameters, and analyze the results remotely. The automatic control telelab (ACT) allows the user to design his/her own controller by means of the MATLAB/Simulink environment, and to test it on the actual plant through a user-friendly interface. An additional feature of ACT is its architecture, allowing for an easy integration of new processes for control experiments. The ACT is reachable at http://www.dii.unisi.it/∼control/act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an optimal tuning tool is presented for control structures based on multivariable proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control, using genetic algorithms as an alternative to traditional optimization algorithms. From an educational point of view, this tool provides students with the necessary means to consolidate their knowledge on these control structures, which are of particular relevance in control engineering. The graphical user interface designed for the tool allows for the following: the selection of the control structure, the desired decoupling, the type of PID, the analysis of the interaction effects through relative gain array (RGA), the planning of several optimal tuning processes, the comparison of different designs (through graphics or the numeric results obtained), and the management of data files saved during the planned optimal tunings process. The developed tool was made available to students for them to solve a practical problem and, subsequently, the impact of its use was evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses an experiment-based approach to teaching an advanced control engineering syllabus involving controlled plant analysis and modeling, control structures and algorithms, real-time laboratory experiments, and their assessment. These experiments are structured around the representative case of the longitudinal slip control of an antilock braking system (ABS). The basic and advanced control strategies that are experimentally studied include the proportional-integral (PI) control, gain scheduling, iterative feedback tuning (IFT) and fuzzy control. The final grades obtained by representative groups of students demonstrate the efficiency of a described hands-on laboratory experimental study of a complex antilock braking system as encountered in practice, which allowed students to gain a better understanding of the theoretical aspects learned during the lectures . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present an integrated Internet-based package for teaching the fundamentals of motion control by using a wide range of resources: theory, videos, simulators, games, quizzes, and a remote lab. The package is aimed at automation technicians, pupils at vocational schools and students taking an introductory course in automatic control, and was designed to complement traditional teaching methods and not as a substitute for them. The scope of this package was also chosen to complement the control engineering curriculum. The evaluation data collected from the users suggest that this strategy gave very good results and raised the interest of learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A very simple and general method for the analysis of feedback amplifiers with large-loop gain is presented in this paper. The general properties of feedback amplifiers, such as gain and input and output resistances, are obtained using an open-loop circuit where the loading effect of the feedback network is easily taken into account. Emphasis is placed on quick, intuitive, and reliable calculations, useful for both the analysis and design of feedback amplifiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a laboratory experiment, which was developed to teach undergraduate students at the University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, some of the main issues regarding closed-loop system identification, is discussed. In this experiment, a plant is identified both from open-loop and closed-loop data. The model obtained from the open-loop data is used as reference to evaluate a closed-loop system identification approach. A motivation for closed-loop system identification and a Laboratory experiment in this field is given. The experiment is outlined, each step is discussed, and the experiment is evaluated. This experiment shows that closed-loop system identification can be taught in an uncomplicated manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experimental laboratory for undergraduate courses in automatic control has been created at the Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy, to provide students with an environment where theoretical concepts can be applied, and the "look and feel" of a real-world problem, though small and simple, can be experienced. The laboratory is meant both for the basic course, titled Fundamentals of Automatic Control, and for advanced ones. Peculiar to the setup is the large number of students involved, with 72 experimental workstations being managed simultaneously. This paper describes the design, implementation, and use of the laboratory until now, dealing with the present experimental setup and the integration of laboratory assignments and lectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In learning undergraduate controls, one of the most abstract and confusing concepts is that of phase margin (PM). One frustration is the difficulty in conceptualizing what physical process could produce the pure phase shift referred to in the definition of PM. Another frustration occurs when simple second-order formulas given for PM do not work in practice. Finally, when resonances occur, there may be multiple gain-crossover frequencies, and which one to use to compute the PM may be unclear. This paper offers visualizations and explanations that students have found helpful in learning about PM-both its evaluation and its application. The phase-root locus (PRL) plot reveals the effect of adding phase in the same way that conventional gain root locus shows the effects of adding gain. The PRL ultimately leads to a definition of PM involving phase shifting that results in physical (real-coefficient) systems, unlike the usual abstract Nyqulst plot rotation. This definition of PM suggests a simple, effective compensator design method for improving PM via phase shifters, a solution illustrated by numerical examples. These materials can either be presented in lectures or assigned as supplementary readings and may inspire student projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the findings related to the locus method that is covered in introductory control systems books. Properties of the complementary root locus and their rules; Properties of branches passing through infinity; Theories on the stability of the system for critial gain; Gain plots.

Focuses on the undergraduate degree in control engineering in Brazil. Correlation between science and engineering; Comparison between electrical and production management engineering; Overview of the curriculum.

Describes the assignment study on digital/state-space control module of the Heriot-Watt University students as part of their Masters program in Digital Systems Engineering. Inverted pendulum and its equation; Discrete pole-placement design process; Introduction on Luenberg and Kalman state observers; Effects of the incorporation of the observer in the state-variable feedback path.

Presents the numerical approach to feedback investigation and its effect on the automatic control system. Significance of the basic knowledge in feedback to the learning requirements of engineering students; Outputs of the linear control systems demonstrated by negative proportional feedback, no feedback and positive proportional feedback; Effect of small negative feedback; Effect of small integrator gain.

Presents a simple control experiment which could be readily used to demonstrate proportional integral compensator design through root locus. Control of the angular velocity of a windmill radiometer whose vanes turn when exposed to infrared radiation; Construction of an experimental setup using a reflexive photoelectric sensor and basic electronic circuitry.

A technique for automatic error analysis using interval mathematics is introduced. A comparison to standard error propagation methods shows that in cases involving complicated formulas, the interval approach gives comparable error estimates with much less effort. Several examples are considered, and numerical errors are computed using the INTLAB extension to MATLAB. Two laboratory experiments are examined, and measured data are used to explore the applicability of interval analysis under typical experimental conditions. Because of the simplicity of using interval analysis, and because of its easy implementation in MATLAB, error analysis may be introduced in the earliest electrical engineering lab classes. This provides students with a crucial skill that will be valuable throughout their engineering studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Traditional introductory computer science (CS) courses have had little success engaging non-computer science majors. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, where introductory CS courses are a requirement for CS majors and nonmajors alike, two tailored introductory courses were introdued as an alternative to the traditional course. The results were encouraging: more nonmajors succeeded (completed and passed) in tailored courses than in the traditional course, students ex- pressed fewer negative reactions to the course content, and many reported that they would be interested in taking another tailored CS course. The authors present findings from a pilot study of the three courses and briefly discuss some of the issues surrounding the tailored courses for nonmajors: programming, context, choice of language, and classroom culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an overall consensus on the importance of laboratory work that exposes the students to broader and more practical issues of industrial control systems, such as their implementation by distributed computer systems (DCSs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs). However, setting up appropriate laboratory facilities to serve this purpose is expensive. For this reason, an interactive learning environment has been developed around the concept of the electronic book. The architecture of the environment allows the integration of hypertext with simulators of DCS, PLC, and process operation. The simulators are specially designed to serve an application-oriented teaching approach, which involves the student in the simulation setup and the running of the application. They are able to simulate not only the execution of the software that realizes the regulatory control algorithms but also the start-up and emergency control strategies of an industrial process, the manual, automatic, and cascade modes of controller operation, and the man-machine interface of a DCS- or PLC-based control system. The applications on which the teaching of DCS and PLC-based control system implementation is based are the interactive advanced control of a distillation column and the pH control of a reactor solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple technique for obtaining the parameters of a linearized model for a didactic magnetic levitation system is introduced. The proposed procedure only involves basic concepts of dynamic systems and is suitable for use in undergraduate control experiments. The project and validation of a digital lead compensator based on the linearized model are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces the nontradional techniques for developing the root loci of control systems using Dickson's technique. Traditional approach using Evan's method; Properties of the complete root loci; Determination of the breakaway points and the value of gain at each point; Critical values of gain and frequency.

Describes an inverted pendulum system that is useful in illustrating important aspects of nonlinear control system theories. Design principles of the system; Description of the pendulum; Use of the system in a student's project; Importance of nonlinearities in the teaching control system.

Presents phase plane method applied to controlled systems containing transport lag. Illustration of the design trajectories from numerical simulator; Observation of a spiral motion around the stable singular point; Effect of phase plane trajectory on spiral motion.