Control systems lab introduction, hardware, software, and safety

Introduction

About this manual

The purpose of this manual is to provide you, the student, with the laboratory procedures necessary forconducting the control system experiments in the ASE 170P course. You should by no means treat this manual as the sole source ofinformation for the design and implementation process. You should rely on lecture notes, reference text, as well as their ownknowledge of control theory, to develop and implement your control algorithms. This manual is only intended to provide an organizedmethod for performing the experiments.

Course objectives

• To learn how to investigate the properties of physical systems both through simulation and experimentation.
• To learn how to perform hardware identification experiments on a physical plant.
• To learn how to design and analyze control systems through simulation using both classical and modern controltechniques.
• To learn how to simulate control systems using both state space and transfer function representations.
• To learn how to implement custom control algorithms in LabVIEW.
• To further develop skills for working with others in an experimental environment.

Course policies

Doing Your Own Work

While you are encouraged to discuss theory and methods with other classmates, when it comes time to analyze,design, and implement your system, it must be done on your own. As an engineer you must always fully understand the problem you aretrying to solve. Simply copying the work of others shows your lack of understanding of the problem. Remember, when you become anengineer working in industry, it is no longer just your grade that is at risk; your company's reputation, and more importantly otherpeople's lives, are on the line. Any students caught in violation of these guidelines will be dealt with according to theuniversity's policies on scholastic dishonesty.

Late Work

Any work submitted late without a valid reason will not receive credit. If a student has a valid reason whyan assignment must be submitted late, he/she should contact the instructor as soon as possible.

Grading

When working in an experimental environment, results are always important, but so is your ability to communicatethe information with others. Any work you submit should be neat, well organized, and easy to understand. Remember, your work is ademonstration of your ability to understand the material you are studying as well as a reflection of your organizational skills andattention to detail.

The following guidelines will help ensure that you receive as much credit as possible for your work: