MAAE 4500

Feedback Control Systems

Prof. Mojtaba 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
Additional Reference: Control Systems Engineering
(6th Edition) by Norman Nise, Wiley 2010

MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Course Information
Why need this course: Because dynamic systems do not
usually behave as desired way and need to be corrected
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 cuLearn
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
Quizzes
Total

60%
40%
100%

MAAE4500: Feeback Control

MATLAB
MATLAB with Controls Toolbox license is
available at Carleton
Rooms: 3290 ME, 3149 ME, 6065 MC,
514 AA
Textbook examples and Assignments will
require MATLAB
MATLAB is not required for evaluation
(Quizzes or Final)
MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Assignments

Will consist of written problems

Posted on the website
Solved problems may be provided
Some assignments are hands on and would require
knowledge of Matlab (in general good tools to know in
the future).
Suggested problems may be posted on cuLearn for
your further reading after the class.

MAAE4500: Feeback Control

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

All tests and exam are closed book, calculators

are allowed (not graphical), equation sheets will
be provided
Material: all material covered up to the lecture
before the exam
MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Final Exam
University scheduled
Closed-book, calculators ok, no laptop
No access to MATLAB!
The final examination is for evaluation purposes
only and will NOT be returned to the student
Material covered: all

MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Lecturers
Section A: ME 3275, TR 11:30-13:00
Prof. Mojtaba Ahmadi (6208 CB)
Phone:
613 520-2600 ext. 4057
Email:
mahmadi@mae.carleton.ca

Section B: Tory 342, MW 13:00 14:30

Prof. Jie. Liu (3146ME)
Phone:
613 520-2600 ext. 8257
Email:
jliu@mae.carleton.ca

MAAE4500: Feeback Control

Lectures
I mainly use a combination of the blackboard
and occasional slides/handouts
Attendance is very important
We follow chapters of Ogata for most of the
course as guideline
Key to success: distribution of your work load
over the whole term (by completing the
assignments) rather than waiting for exams to
study

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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

Controlling the location of a mass on the
table:
Actuator?
Sensor?
Dynamic behavior?
Control law selection and its impact on the
dynamic behavior?
F

M
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- 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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Example: Closed-loop (Human Feedback) Control

controller

actuator

plant/process

input

output
sensors

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Control Objectives
Output, y, should follow the input, r or:
y(t) / r(t) 1 as t
As fast as possible
Without too much oscillations ( be stable)
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-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

21

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:
feedback control is used (ex: position control)
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11

Closed-loop (Automatic Feedback) Control

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Many examples of controls in robotics

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12

Research examples
Robotic locomotion

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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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13

Research: Robot for Wind Tunnel (CTS)

Robot Manipulators optimal planning and control
Carleton-NRC

Multiple control loops

Aerodynamic disturbance
Plant variations & nonlinearities
Redundancy and optimality

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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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14

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
Virtual reality integration

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15

Research examples from (ABL Lab)

Advanced Biomechatronics and Locomotion Lab
GaitEnable (GE)
Early mobility
Human-robot interaction
Force feedback

Being Commercialized by GaitTronics

Inc. Ottawa
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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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16

Research examples from (ABL Lab)

Advanced Biomechatronics and Locomotion Lab
To see a nice video clip go to MAE Department
website and check out our lab on Discovery Channel
or directly on:
http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/daily-planet/may2010/daily-planet---may-06-2010/#clip299133
Note : We are always looking for good graduate
students or volunteers. Dont miss the opportunity to
apply for OGS and NSERC Scholarships (usually due
late this month).
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New Physical Systems: Mechatronic

MECH + ELECT + SW+Control

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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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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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18

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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19