Course Organization,

Introduction & Review of

Classical Control Basics

Rabia Nazir
rabia.nazir@uet.edu.pk
Associate Professor,
Electrical Engineering Department, UET Lahore.
Outline
• Course description
• Course organization
• Why should we study control and this course?
• Important concepts from classical control
• Features of this course
Course Description
• This course is about control
Transition from classical control (poles, zeros, transfer functions, etc.,
covered undergraduate course on control systems) to modern control by
focusing on the notion of state space. Linear system theory is a vast field.
In this text, we limit our discussion to
the conventional approaches of state-
space equations and the polynomial
fraction method of transfer matrices.

The Mathematical background

assumed is a working knowledge of
linear algebra and the Laplace
transform & an elementary
knowledge of differential equations.
Course Description
This course covers:
– Linear spaces and operators
– Mathematical descriptions of linear systems
– Controllability and observability
– Minimum realization of rational transfer-function matrices
– Canonical forms
– State feedback and state estimators
– Stability
Course Organization
• Lecture Time: Friday 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
• Instructor: Dr. Rabia Nazir
• Text book, email list,
–Textbook: Chi-Tsong Chen, Linear System Theory and Design, 4th Edition, Oxford
University Press, Oxford, UK, 2013 (or 3rd Edition, 1999)
–Email list: Notes can be shared via emails
• Office Hours: Tuesday 12:00 pm-2:00 pm
• Course Evaluation
– Assignments + Quizzes = 30% (Late Assignments will not be accepted)
– Mid-Term Exam = 30%
– End-Term Exam = 40%
Why Should We Study This Course???
• Practically all engineers will use control
• Control is an essential element of almost all engineering systems
–It happens very often that systems perform poorly because they are designed from purely
static analysis, with no consideration of dynamics and control.
• Control can give designers extra degrees of freedom
• Control is not confined to engineering
• We need to know both modern and classical control
• This course is a good way to practice math in a genuine engineering context
–It involves extensive use of linear algebra.
–It is an excellent example showing that math is beautifully used in engineering applications.
–Word of caution: It may be boring if you do not like math.
What is Control System??
• The term control has many meanings and often varies between communities
(e.g. “control group” in biomedical research).
• Generally speaking, a control system is a system that is used to realize a
desired output or objective.
• Most control in engineering systems uses feedback.
• Feedback: The term feedback is used to refer to a situation where two (or
more) dynamical systems are connected together such that each system
influences the other and their dynamics are thus strongly coupled
• The principle of feedback is very simple
Base correcting actions on the
difference between desired and actual
performance
Basic Terminologies for Control Systems
Controlled Variable and Control Signal or Manipulated Variable. The controlled variable is the quantity or
condition that is measured and controll. The control signal or manipulated variable is the quantity or
condition that is varied by the controller so as to affect the value of the controlled variable. Normally, the
controlled variable is the output of the system. Control means measuring the value of the controlled variable
of the system and applying the control signal to the system to correct or limit deviation of the measured value
from a desired value.
Plants A plant may be a piece of equipment, perhaps just a set of machine parts functioning together, the
purpose of which is to perform a particular operation. Any physical object to be controlled (such as a
mechanical device, a heating furnace, a chemical reactor, or a spacecraft) can be called a plant.
Processes Any operation to be controlled is called a process.
Systems A system is a combination of components that act together and perform a certain objective. A system
need not be physical.
Disturbances A disturbance is a signal that tends to adversely affect the value of the output of a system. If a
disturbance is generated within the system, it is called internal, while an external disturbance is generated
outside the system and is an input.
Feedback Control Feedback control refers to an operation that, in the presence of disturbances, tends to
reduce the difference between the output of a system and some reference input and does so on the basis of
this difference.
 Feedback Control Examples
An example of feedback control
in biological systems: normal
regulation of blood glucose.
An example of feedback control
in cruise system.

Actuator
Error

Control signal

Controlled Plant
Variable
Advantages & Drawbacks of Feedback
Advantages X-29 (with forward
• Reduction of steady-state error swept wings) is unstable
without control
• Robustness to uncertainty
• Higher levels of automation
Using nonlinear
• Design of dynamics (e.g. stabilizing and linearizing) operational amplifier to
Drawbacks realize linear operations
• Feedback may introduce instability if not properly designed (e.g., the effects of
“positive feedback” when the amplification on a microphone is turned up too high in a
room)
• Feedback inherently couples different parts of a system (injecting measurement noise
into the system)
• Feedback increases system complexity (embedding a control system into a product)
Dynamical Systems
• Refer to a system whose behavior changes over time, often in response
to external stimulation or forcing.
– Good control must take into account the dynamic behavior of the
object being controlled in order to do a good job.

TF
Time Domain Analysis
• In time domain analysis the response of the systems is expressed as a function of time c(t). It
is possible to compute the time response of a system if the mathematical model of the system
and input are known.
• Time domain response of the system can be computed by solving differential equations or the
transfer function.
• Time responses
• Step response
• Ramp response
• Time response specifications in design (delay time, rise time, peak time, peak overshoot, settling time,
and steady state value)
• Steady state accuracy
• Transient response
• Root locus plot
 Frequency Domain Analysis
• The frequency response is the steady-state response of a system to a sinusoidal input signal.
Frequency response function (magnitude change, phase shift, and bandwidth)
• Design specifications in terms of frequency responses (steady-state accuracy, Resonant
frequency, resonant peak, bandwidth etc.)
• Frequency domain characteristics completely describe the behavior of a linear, time-invariant
system. Frequency response is graphically represented in the following ways:
• Bode plot—two separate graphs for magnitude and phase against frequency, usually on
logarithmic scales;
• Nyquist plot—a single graph depicting real vs. imaginary parts of the response covering the full
frequency range;
• Nichols plot—a single graph depicting magnitude vs. argument.
Since it is possible to assess qualitative properties of the linear system under study (e.g., relative
stability margins), frequency domain analysis is essential in control design.
Stability & Sensitivity
• Stability
– BIBO stability for LTI systems
–Relative stability (gain margin and phase margin)
• Sensitivity
–Disturbance rejection
–Sensitivity and stability margin may exert conflicting requirements in control
design
Commonly Used Controllers
• Gain compensator (proportional controller)
• Phase-lead compensator
• Phase-lag compensator
• Lag-lead compensator
• PID controller
State Space Description
• The system is modeled as a set of first-order differential equations
(representation of the dynamics of an nth-order system using n first-
order differential equations) State/Dynamic equation
Output/Measurement equation

• Example: Newton’s
second Law

System Matrix
Input Matrix
Output Matrix
Feed Forward/Direct
transmission Matrix
Exercise
• Please give a state-space description for the following system.

Question: Is the state-space description unique??

Hint: Consider x1 = y, x2 = ẏ+2y

• The power of modern control has its roots in the fact that the state-
space model can represent a MIMO (multi-input multi-output) system
as a SISO (single-input single-output) system due to the use of vectors
and matrices
Why To Use State Space Approach
• State variable form convenient way to work with complex dynamics; matrix format easy
to use on computers
• Transfer functions only deal with input/output behavior, while state-space form provides
easy access to the internal features and response of the system
• State-space approach is great for MIMO (multi-input multi-output) system, which are
very hard to work with using transfer functions
• State variables can be used for feedback
• Concentrate on linear systems
• –Linear models describe small perturbations from nominal operations, and most control
design is aimed at regulating such perturbations
• –Linear models are far more tractable than general nonlinear models, so systematic and
detailed control design approaches can be developed
Apply Time Domain Techniques
• Apply time-domain techniques
• The frequency-domain approach is at its best when dealing with SISO systems, for the graphical techniques were
inconvenient to apply with multiple inputs and outputs
• With the advent of the space age, control design turned away from the frequency-domain techniques of classical
control theory and back to the differential equation techniques of the late 1800’s, which were couched in the time
domain
• However, modern control that was based on time-domain techniques was lacking in some aspects
• By solving matrix design equations, it is often possible to design a control system that works in
theory without gaining any engineering intuition about the problem; on the other hand, the
frequency-domain techniques of classical control theory impart a great deal of intuition
• A modern control system with any compensator dynamics can fail to be robust to disturbances,
unmodeled dynamics, and measurement noise; on the other hand, robustness is built in with a
frequency-domain approach using notions like gain & phase margin.
• Nowadays, many of the classical frequency-domain techniques can be incorporated into time-
domain design