Controls Laboratory

This laboratory (EENG 425), offered in the fall semester of the senior year, accompanies the three-credit course EENG 411 Introduction to Control Systems, which is a core course in the electrical engineering program and an elective in the computer engineering program. Laboratory exercises, based on time and frequency domain system analysis techniques, are used to model physical systems typical of control systems. The students analyze a moving-coil permanent-magnet dc motor and a pulse-width modulation amplifier in order to derive a (linearized) working model. This model is used in design problems assigned in EENG 411 and implemented in the laboratory in the form of a velocity control loop. Transient and steady-state measurements give the students an understanding of the practical implications of the inherent nonlinearities of control systems.

Next, a more advanced design is performed in conjunction with the positional control system that is implemented in the laboratory with a brushless dc motor. At the same time, an advanced positional control system is implemented with a digital controller that allows the analysis of three different controllers in the same lab session. A very small sampling period is used in order to emulate the behavior of systems built with analog controllers.

In addition, a computer-controlled inverted pendulum demo, together with the above digital positional control system, is available to illustrate some of the features of digital control systems in the electrical engineering elective EENG 412 Digital Control Systems, which is a continuation of EENG 411.

A student who successfully fulfills the laboratory requirements will have demonstrated an ability to apply basic electrical engineering concepts to testing analog controllers built with operational amplifiers, an ability to apply time and frequency domain techniques to analyze and design signals and systems, and a good understanding of the principles of design and operation of linear control systems.