MAAE 4500

Feedback Control Systems

Professors Nitzsche and Ahmadi
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Course Information
Textbook:
Text Book: Modern Control Engineering (5th Edition)
by Katsuhiko Ogata. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey (available in the bookstore)
Additional Reference: Control Systems Engineering
(6th Edition) by Norman Nise, Wiley 2010

MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Course Information
Motivation: Systems do not behave exactly as we expect and
we need to control them to obtain the desired behaviour
What we learn in this course:
Understand how the dynamic systems behave
Define the desired behaviour: using performance
criteria for controlled system
Learn how to design controllers to achieve the
desired behaviour
Note: we do the above in time domain or frequency
domain
MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Course Information
Course communication: all through CU Learn
There are no notes for this course. If any further
material is used outside the suggested text, then some
notes will be posted
Evaluation:
Final
2 Quizzes
Total

60%
40%
100%

MAAE4500: Feeback Control

MATLAB
MATLAB is an important tool in controls
engineering (with several toolboxes).
MATLAB with Controls Toolbox license is
available at Carleton undergraduate labs.
Textbook examples and sssignments will
require MATLAB
MATLAB is not required for evaluation
(Quizzes or Final)
MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Assignments

Will consist of written problems.

Posted online about a week before the due dates.
Should do the assignments on your own to succeed.
Answers will be posted after the due dates.
Some assignments are hands on and would require
knowledge of Matlab (in general good tools to know in
the future).
Extra suggested problems may be posted.

MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Quizzes
Will consist of written problems
Quiz 1: in October (date TBD)
Quiz 2: in November (date TBD)

Closed book with formula sheet and calculators

are allowed
Material: all material covered up to one lecture
before the Quiz date
MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Final Exam
University scheduled
Closed-book and calculators allowed
The final examination is for evaluation purposes
only and will NOT be returned to the student
Material covered: All
Exam and the Quizzez may contain both written
and multiple choice questions

MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Lecturers & TA Office Hours

Sections A and B lectures and evaluations are the same:
Section A: Loeb C164, WF 16:00 17:30
Prof. Mojtaba Ahmadi (6208 CB)
Phone: 613 520-2600 ext. 4057
Email: mojtaba.ahmadi@carleton.ca
Section B: Azrieli Theatre 101, TR 14:30 16:00
Prof. Fred Nitzsche (6214D VSIM)
Phone: 613 520-2600 ext. 5660
Email: fred.nitzsche@carleton.ca
MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Lectures

Mainly use the blackboard, occasionally slides

Attendance is very important
Follow book chapters according to the schedule
Key to success: distribution of your work load
over the term (complete the assignments)
Only occasionally may post lecture materials in
addition to the text book.

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Other Notes
Students that require any accommodation
should do so early on during the term (2
weeks into the term). Please read the
statement on the outline. Students that need
to register with PMC, please do so as soon as
possible.

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Chapter 1
Introduction

Speed Control System

(James Watt, 1769)

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Water-level Float Regulator

(I. Polzunov, Russia, 1765)

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Control Systems Development

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Closed-loop Control Example

How do we control the position of a mass?

Dynamic behavior and governing equations?
Feedback: Sensor, actuator, control law?
Control law selection and its impact on the
dynamic behavior?
F

16

Closed- and Open-loop Systems

Closed-loop or feedback control systems
A system that maintains a prescribed relationship
between the output and a reference input signal in
the presence of disturbances
A control signal is generated by the controller and
added to the disturbances to correct the system
response

Open-loop systems
Systems for which the output signal has no effect
on the control signal
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Closed-loop Control Example

Controlling a modern elevator
Actuator?
Sensor?
Dynamic equations / behavior?
Disturbance / Disturbance Rejection
Control law selection and its impact on the
dynamic behavior?
F

M
Mg

18

Closed- and Open-loop Systems

Feedback controls three elements:
Sensors, Actuators, Control law (implementation options)

Feedback structure:
Ref.
input

e (error)

d (disturbance)
y (output)

u (input)
Plant

Control

Sensor
v

y = Controlled variable
u= manipulated variable

(measurement noise)
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Control Objectives
Output, y, should follow the input r or:
y(t) / r(t) 1 as t
Equivalently, error should converge to zero:
e(t) 0 as t
The output, y, should be least affected by disturbance d:
(y/d) 0 as t
The output, y, should be least affected by measurement
noise, v:
(y/v) 0 as t

10

Closed- and Open-loop Systems

Open Loop control has:

Simpler implementation
Lower cost
No stability issue
Convenience with hard-to-measure outputs

But has issues:

Prone to errors in the presence of disturbance
Prone to system parameter uncertainty

Therefore:
Mostly feedback control is used
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Example: Closed-loop (Human Feedback) Control

controller

actuator

plant/process

input

output
sensors

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11

Closed-loop (Automatic Feedback) Control

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Mechatronic Examples
Embedded computer to execute control tasks

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12

Structure of Computer-Controlled Systems

Mechanical System
To be controlled
user

Sensors

Input
Devices

Signal
Conditioning
A/D, Filter

User
Interface

Actuators

Signal
Conditioning
D/A, Amp.

Control
Algorithm

Digital Controller (computer)

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Examples

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Examples
Legged robots: multiple joint control and balance

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Research example: Robotic Welding

Robot force and position control for welding of
composites (Carleton-NRC)
Nonlinear process
Adaptive control
Multiple control loops:
position, force, speed,
temperature, etc.

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14

Research: Robot for Wind Tunnel (CTS)

Robot Manipulators optimal planning and control
Carleton-NRC
Multiple control loops
Aerodynamic disturbance

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Research examples from (ABL Lab)

Advanced Biomechatronics and Locomotion Lab
Bipedal walking and human postural stability
Learning controllers
Nonlinear control

ABL-B1: simulation
and design

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Research examples from (ABL Lab)

Advanced Biomechatronics and Locomotion Lab
Bipedal walking and human postural stability
Learning controllers
Nonlinear control

ABL-B1: Completed
and control being
implemented

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Research examples from (ABL Lab)

Advanced Biomechatronics and Locomotion Lab
Virtual Gait Retraining Rehabilitation (ViGR)
Human-robot interaction
Force controlled systems
Design for control

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Research examples from (ABL Lab)

Advanced Biomechatronics and Locomotion Lab
Intelligent Assistive Devices
Assist-as-needed control for enhanced rehabilitation
Human-robot interaction control
Muscle signal processing

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GaitEnable System (GE)

GaitEnable
User interaction
Nonlinear control, stability issues

17

Research examples from (ABL Lab)

Advanced Biomechatronics and Locomotion Lab

Notes :
Dont miss the opportunity to apply for OGS and
NSERC Scholarships (usually due in Fall).
We are always looking for good graduate students

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Control Theory
Contents: Classical Control Theory (this course)
Introduction to Control Systems
The Laplace Transform (Review)
Mathematical Modeling of Dynamic Systems
Root-Locus Analysis
Control Systems Design by the Root-Locus Method
PID Controls

Frequency Response and Analysis of Systems (Some Review)

Control System Design in Frequency Domain

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Control Theory
Contents: Modern control theory (after this course)
State space modeling and control
Nonlinear control theory
Identification and adaptive control
Robust control
Optimal control
Digital control
Estimation
...
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Till your next lecture:

Review your past material on systems including
Laplace Transforms and related theorems. This is
very important.
Review the feedback control concept by trying to
find a few real-life problems. Devise it into elements
involved in a control system. You should be able to find
numerous examples.

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