Control Theory

What is Control Theory?

Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of the engineering

and the computational mathematics that deals with the
behavior of dynamical systems with inputs, and how their
behavior is modified by feedback.
The objective of control theory is to control a system, often called
the plant, so its output follows a desired control signal, called
the reference, which may be a fixed or changing value. To do this
a controller is designed, which monitors the output and compares
it with the reference. The difference between actual and desired
output, called the error signal, is applied as feedback to the input
of the system, to bring the actual output closer to the reference.
Some topics studied in control theory are:
Stability
Controllability
Observability.

Extensive use is usually made of a diagrammatic style known as

the block diagram. The transfer function, also known as the
system function or network function, is a mathematical
representation of the relation between the input and output
based on the differential equations describing the system.
A block diagram of a negative feedback control system.
Illustrates the concept of using a feedback loop to control the
behavior of a system by comparing its output to a desired
value, and applying the difference as an error signal to
dynamically change the output so it is closer to the desired
output
Although a major application of control theory is in control
systems engineering, which deals with the design of process
control systems for industry, other applications range far
beyond this. As the general theory of feedback systems, control
theory is useful wherever feedback occurs. A few examples are
in physiology, electronics, climate modeling, machine design,
ecosystems, navigation, neural networks, predatorprey
interaction, gene expression, and production theory.
Control theory can be divided into 3 main steps:
1. Modeling problems: find a correct mathematical model for
a real system coming from mechanics, electrical
engineering, mathematical physics, biology

2. Analysis problems: analysis of the properties of the

system (controllability, observability, stabilizability).
3. Synthesis problems: construction of a feedback
controller which stabilizes and optimizes the performances
of the closed-loop system, study the robustness issues
The classical and modern control
theory
Classical control theory is based on Laplace
transforms and applies to linear autonomous
systems having scalar (single) input and scalar
output. A function called the transfer function
relating the input output relationship of the
system is defined. One of the objectives of
control theory is to design - in terms of the
transfer function a system which satisfies
certain assigned specifications. This objective is
primarily achieved by a trial and error approach.
Modern
control theory is not only applicable to linear
autonomous systems but also to timevarying systems and is
useful when dealing with nonlinear systems. It is applicable to
multipleinput and multipleoutput systems. The approach is
based on the concept of state. It is the consequence of an
important characteristic of a dynamical system, namely that its
instantaneous behavior is dependent on its past history, so that
the behavior of the system at time can be determined given:
1) The forcing function (that is, the input), and
2) The state of the system at
Example
References
Quadrat, A.. (2004). An Introduction to Control
Theory. May 21, 2017, de Sophia Antipolis cedex Sitio
web: http://
pages.saclay.inria.fr/alban.quadrat/Stage/MAP1.pdf
Burghes, D. & Graham, A.. (2004). Control and
Optimal Control Theories with Applications. England:
Elsevier.
Pandit, P.. (2016). Introduction to mathematical
control theory. May 21, 2017, de SlideShare Sitio
web: https://
www.slideshare.net/DrPurnima/introduction-to-mathem
atical-control-theory-dr-purnima-pandit