Control Engineering

Control Engineering

Control Engineering is taught in the fourth and fifth year of the electrical engineering curriculum. In fourth year, the students mainly cover modelling, time domain and frequency domain analysis and stability analysis of linear control systems. In the fifth year of study, concepts like state space representation, digital control, proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers, nonlinear control systems and optimal control are covered. 

Currently, the laboratory exercises are mainly Matlab based. We seek to enhance the teaching of these units by developing a laboratory exercise based on the Raspberry Pi to be undertaken by the fifth year students. The lab will cover the areas of PID controllers, optimal control and digital control using a real  life example, water tank level monitoring and filling. The objective of optimal control theory is to determine the control signal that will optimize (maximize or minimize) some performance criterion while at the same time satisfying the physical constraints of the system. 

In this lab, the students will explore the optimal parameters for a PID controller designed to ensure the water level in a tank is maintained within an optimal range. The PID controller will be implemented in software and this will introduce the students to digital control concepts.