ME475 – Control Systems Analysis (3 Credit Hours)

Course Description: Classical and modern feedback-control system analysis; and block diagrams, state variables, stability, root locus, and computerized analysis. Includes an introduction to modern control techniques.

Course Instructors: This course is typically taught by the following instructors:

• Dr. Joey Parker

Sample Syllabus: A sample syllabus indicative of that typically used in the course can be found here - Fall 1999 (PDF), Fall 1999 ( HTML).

Pre-Requisite Skills: Students entering this course are expected to have mastered the following skills:

• ME 349 – Engineering Analysis

• Use Matlabä to find the time response of a state variable model system for arbitrary inputs;
• ME 372 – Dynamic Systems
• Determine a set of state variable equations for modeling a translational or rotational mechanical system made up of mass, spring, and damping elements;
• Derive the state variable equations for an electrical circuit made of resistors, capacitors, inductors, and both ideal voltage and current sources;
• Identify the general response of a second order system based on the damping ratio and undamped natural frequency to the unit impulse function and the unit step function ;
• Use Laplace Transform tables to transform a time function into the frequency domain or vice-versa;
• Solve a system’s equations of motion (1st, 2nd, or 3rd order) using the Laplace Transform;
• Develop a transfer function from block diagrams or a set of state variable equations
• Determine the analytical frequency response (magnitude and phase) for first and second order transfer functions.

Co-Requisite Skills: Students taking this course are expected to be enrolled (or to have taken) courses that teach students the following skills:

Course Objectives: Students who successfully complete this course can be expected to:

• Correlate the time response (peak time, rise time, settling time, maximm percent overshoot) of 2^nd order systems to step inputs to the system’s root locations, damping ratio, and natural frequency; (e)
• Use block diagram reduction techniques to convert system descriptions into overall transfer functions; (e)
• Determine the stability of a system by applying the Routh-Hurwitz criterion to the characteristic equation; (e)
• Find the range of gain K for a stable system by applying the Routh-Hurwitz criterion; (e)
• Determine the stability of a system by using Matlabä to find the eigenvalues for the system’s A matrix; (k,n)
• Apply the final value theorem (from Laplace Transforms) to determine steady state errors due to step, ramp, and parabolic inputs; (m)
• Use Matlabä to draw the root locus for a control system’s characteristic equation; (k)
• Use the Routh-Hurwitz criterion to find where the root locus crosses the imaginary axis; (e)
• Design control systems (proportional, integral, derivative, PID, phase-lead, phase lag) via root locus techniques; (c,o)
• Simulate the designed control systems with Matlab Simulinkä ; (k)
• Use frequency response to experimentally determine a physical system’s model; (k)
• Design control systems (proportional, integral, derivative, phase-lead, phase lag) via frequency response methods; (c,o)

Sample Examinations: Examples of Examinations given in this course can be found here - Test #1 (PDF), Test #2 (PDF), Final (PDF).

Downstream Users: This course is a terminal course- no downstream courses.