CONTROL SYSTEMS

The uniqueness of control as an engineering discipline in its own right, as well as one which cuts accross traditional subject boundaries, is such that a solution to a problem in one industrial sector may very often be applicable to a different problem in a completely different sector. Exploiting this observation, the aim of the group is to assist potential collaborators to both understand and solve their control engineering problems by application of relevant control theoretical design methodologies.

Background

The origin of Control Systems dates back to 1927 when the Industrial Revolution was running into problems. Experiences over the years includes the application of computer based on-line self tuning control techniques for both high bandwidth and low bandwidth systems. When dealing with high bandwidth (or fast acting) systems one is often compelled to assume that local linearity holds and with low bandwidth (or slow acting) systems one is afforded more scope to deal with system nonlinearities.

When considering low bandwidth applications, system nonlinearity can be dealt with explicitly, thereby opening up opportunities for nonlinear control system solutions. Since all practical systems exhibit nonlinear behaviour, the adoption of a nonlinear controller has obvious advantages, and it is against this background that much of the work on which Control Systems is based.

Areas of Application