Digital Control

Controls theory is generally introduced to students through continuous transfer functions. Strictly speaking, this means that the real-world controllers would be implemented using only analog electronics. In most cases, however, it is not feasible to implement a controller using only analog electronics. Analog electronics are inherently prone to variations in their nominal values, and thus extensive fine-tuning is necessary for each implemented controller using the same nominal electronics. Furthermore, each pure analog circuit will be very susceptible to environmental changes, in particular changes in temperature and humidity. Therefore, most control systems are now being implemented on digital computers, i.e. usually using either a PC/laptop or a microprocessor. In this lab students will investigate the impact of implementing a continuous controller in a digital environment.