Case for a Course in Digital Control in the Undergraduate Engineering Technology Program

Jai P. Agrawal; Omer Farook; Wangling Yu

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Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: EET Papers 1
Tagged Division: Engineering Technology
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--28015
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/28015
Download Count: 589

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Paper Authors

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Jai P. Agrawal Purdue University, Northwest

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Jai P. Agrawal is a professor in electrical and computer engineering technology at Purdue University Northwest. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from University of Illinois, Chicago, in 1991, dissertation in power electronics. He also received M.S. and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, in 1970 and 1968, respectively. His expertise includes analog and digital electronics design, power electronics, and optical/wireless networking systems. He has designed several models of high frequency oscilloscopes and other electronic test and measuring instruments as an entrepreneur. He has delivered invited short courses in Penang, Malaysia and Singapore. He is also the author of a textbook in power electronics, published by Prentice-Hall, Inc. His other books are, Analog and digital communication laboratory, and First course in Digital Control, published by Creatspace (Amazon). His professional career is equally divided in academia and industry. He has authored several research papers in IEEE journals and conferences. His current research is focused on renewable energy technology and wireless power transfer.

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Omer Farook Purdue University Northwest

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Omer Farook is a member of the faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology at Purdue University, Nothwest. Farook received the diploma of licentiate in mechanical engineering and B.S.M.E. in 1970 and 1972, respectively. He further received B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. in 1978 and 1983, respectively, from Illinois Institute of Technology. Farook’s current interests are in the areas of embedded system design, hardware-software interfacing, digital communication, networking, image processing, and biometrics, C++, Python, PHP and Java languages. He has a keen interest in pedagogy and instruction delivery methods related to distance learning. He has a deep commitment to social justice and in achieving economic and educational equity.

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Wangling Yu Purdue University Northwest

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Dr. Wangling Yu is an assistant professor in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Technology Department of the Purdue University Northwest. He was a test engineer over 15 years, providing technical leadership in the certification, testing and evaluation of custom integrated security systems. He received his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the City University of New York in 1992, specializing in control theory and electronic technology.

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Abstract

CASE FOR A COURSE IN DIGITAL CONTROL IN THE UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM Abstract To control is a basic instinct in human beings. Control engineering is required in almost every branch of engineering. With the advent of computers, more and more shift is happening towards their use in controlling systems. Educators have for a long-time believed that it is necessary to learn the control of continuous-time systems before moving on to discrete-time control (also known as digital control) systems. While disagreeing with this belief, the authors hold the view that, even though several physical systems operate continuously in time, sensing, measuring and processing of control data and corrective actions are basically discrete methods. Therefore, it is imperative that a course in Control should start with the discrete signals and systems. The basics learned from discrete signal and systems can be easily applied in continuous-time systems by using a very small sampling-time interval. The proposed course starts with discrete-time concepts but concurrently introduces the continuous-time concepts and methods. The Z-transform and Laplace transforms are both introduced in a single chapter, moving on to discrete systems, responses and control methods, conversion of continuous-time systems to discrete systems for digital control. The later process requires fairly good knowledge of Laplace transform and methods. The course tops off with the feedback control methods and implementation of the digital controller transfer functions using Digital Signal Processor. The proposed course uses MATLAB very extensively to illustrate the control concepts and examples. Each concept has an example which the instructor can take up in the classroom or assign for self-study. Students can use these numerous examples for experiential learning. The course also uses SIMULINK examples to show sample-by-sample processing of the concepts of control. Lastly the course gives examples of how to implement a digital controller using a Digital Signal Processor such as the Texas Instrument’s 320C6713 processor. This course has been tested in the classroom. Figure: Digital Feedback Control System The paper will present the detailed syllabus comprising of week-wise lecture topics and the laboratory exercises, as well as the student satisfaction survey, student’s feedback at the end of the class, and instructor’s self-assessment. Digital Processor DAC Auto mobile DACS ensorA DC Actual speed Feedback Digital Control Reference speed, control voltage ADC Reference: [1] M.S. Fadali and Antonio Visioli, “Digital Control Engineering: Analysis and Design”, 2nd edition, Academic Press, ISBN 978-0-12-394391-0. [2] Hugh F. VanLandingham, “Introduction to Digital Control Systems”, Macmillan Inc., 1985, page 220, ISBN 0-02-422610-6. [3] Joyce Van de Vegte, “Fundamentals of Digital Signal Processing”, Prentice Hall, 2002, ISBN 0-13-016077-6 [4] http://ctms.engin.umich.edu/CTMS/index.php?example=CruiseControl&section=SystemModeling

Citation
Format

Agrawal, J. P., & Farook, O., & Yu, W. (2017, June), Case for a Course in Digital Control in the Undergraduate Engineering Technology Program Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28015

TY - CPAPER
AB - CASE FOR A COURSE IN DIGITAL CONTROL IN THE UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

Abstract

To control is a basic instinct in human beings. Control engineering is required in almost every branch of engineering. With the advent of computers, more and more shift is happening towards their use in controlling systems. Educators have for a long-time believed that it is necessary to learn the control of continuous-time systems before moving on to discrete-time control (also known as digital control) systems. While disagreeing with this belief, the authors hold the view that, even though several physical systems operate continuously in time, sensing, measuring and processing of control data and corrective actions are basically discrete methods. Therefore, it is imperative that a course in Control should start with the discrete signals and systems. The basics learned from discrete signal and systems can be easily applied in continuous-time systems by using a very small sampling-time interval.

The proposed course starts with discrete-time concepts but concurrently introduces the continuous-time concepts and methods. The Z-transform and Laplace transforms are both introduced in a single chapter, moving on to discrete systems, responses and control methods, conversion of continuous-time systems to discrete systems for digital control. The later process requires fairly good knowledge of Laplace transform and methods. The course tops off with the feedback control methods and implementation of the digital controller transfer functions using Digital Signal Processor.

The proposed course uses MATLAB very extensively to illustrate the control concepts and examples. Each concept has an example which the instructor can take up in the classroom or assign for self-study. Students can use these numerous examples for experiential learning. The course also uses SIMULINK examples to show sample-by-sample processing of the concepts of control. Lastly the course gives examples of how to implement a digital controller using a Digital Signal Processor such as the Texas Instrument’s 320C6713 processor. This course has been tested in the classroom.

Figure: Digital Feedback Control System The paper will present the detailed syllabus comprising of week-wise lecture topics and the laboratory exercises, as well as the student satisfaction survey, student’s feedback at the end of the class, and instructor’s self-assessment.

Digital Processor
DAC
Auto mobile
DACS ensorA DC
Actual speed
Feedback
Digital Control
Reference speed, control voltage
ADC
Reference: [1] M.S. Fadali and Antonio Visioli, “Digital Control Engineering: Analysis and Design”, 2nd edition, Academic Press, ISBN 978-0-12-394391-0. [2] Hugh F. VanLandingham, “Introduction to Digital Control Systems”, Macmillan Inc., 1985, page 220, ISBN 0-02-422610-6. [3] Joyce Van de Vegte, “Fundamentals of Digital Signal Processing”, Prentice Hall, 2002, ISBN 0-13-016077-6 [4] http://ctms.engin.umich.edu/CTMS/index.php?example=CruiseControl&amp;section=SystemModeling
AU - Jai P. Agrawal
AU - Omer Farook
AU - Wangling Yu
CY - Columbus, Ohio
DA - 2017/06/24
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Case for a Course in Digital Control in the Undergraduate Engineering Technology Program
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/28015
DO - 10.18260/1-2--28015
ER -