The Ohio State University
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

ECE 551 Introduction to Feedback Control Systems



Instructor: Prof. Kevin M. Passino, Rm. 416 Dreese Laboratories, Office hours: Please come see
me any time or if you would like a special time to meet set up an appointment (passino [at] ece.osu.edu).

Text: Dorf R.C., Bishop, Modern Control Systems, 11th Ed., Pearson Prentice Hall, NJ, 2008

Grading: (Tentative) Midterm 25%; Quizzes (four or five) 20%; Homework 10%; Projects (2) 20%; Final Exam 25% (to include a design component)

Objective: Provide introductory, fundamental concepts in feedback control systems, and motivate interested students in pursuit of advanced study in the control systems area.

Prerequisites: EE 351, EE352

Miscellaneous: Homework will be assigned regularly and collected and/or graded randomly. All assignments must be completed as a course requirement; penalty for late homework and projects will be 10%/day. You are responsible for any and all alterations in homework assignments, exam and quiz dates, and course related announcements in general which occur in the lecture. In other words, come to class!

Lecture Topic

  1. Introduction: The Control Problem, Terminology, Motivation for Feedback
  2. Dynamics of Mechanical Systems
  3. Dynamics of Electro-Mechanical Systems [Homework #1] [HW#1 Solutions]
  4. Modeling other physical systems, state variable models / MATLAB for simulation
  5. Principles of Feedback: A Case Study (Disturbance Rejection)
  6. Principles of Feedback: A Case Study (Sensitivity to Plant Parameter Variations) [Homework #2] [HW#2 Solutions]
  7. P, I, D, and PID Control
  8. Tracking and System Type
  9. Time Domain Specifications in Terms of Poles and Zeros, Stability [Quiz #1 Solutions] [Homework #3] [HW#3 Solutions]
  10. Stability and the Routh Criterion
  11. Stability and the Routh Criterion: Examples
  12. Root Locus Construction [Homework #4] [HW#4 Solutions]
  13. Root Locus Construction [Quiz #2 Solutions]
  14. Root Locus Construction / Root Locus Examples
  15. Root Locus Examples, Gains from the locus / MATLAB for Root Locus Construction
  16. Midterm Exam
  17. The Root Locus Method for Lead Compensator Design [Design Project #1] [Design Project #1 Solutions]
  18. Root Locus Design Example: Lead Compensation
  19. The Root Locus Method for Lag Compensator Design, Design Example
  20. Bode Plots (complex roots and unstable systems), Examples / MATLAB
  21. Stability Margins and Performance Specifications, Examples
  22. Lead Compensator Design Example (MATLAB)
  23. Lag Compensator Design Example (MATLAB) [Design Project #2] [Design Project #2 Solutions]
  24. Lead/Lag Compensator Design Example (MATLAB)
  25. PID Controller Design [Quiz #3 Solutions]
  26. Design Example
  27. State variable approach: model, conversion to/from transfer functions / MATLAB
  28. Stability analysis, Pole Placement Design
  29. Pole Placement Design Example (MATLAB)
  30. Review and Preview of Control


Computer-Aided-Design of Control Systems: There will be several design problems where you will be expected to use the theoretical concepts from the course and the CAD package MATLAB to design controllers for various physical systems (e.g., motors, aircraft, robots, etc.).