Simple and inexpensive control laboratory

Abstract

To address the basic problem of teaching fundamentals of control theory, a one-credit-hour control laboratory is proposed. The three-lecture-hour introductory control course is replaced with a four-hour lecture-lab course. This proposed lab is simple and inexpensive enough that any electrical engineering department with any shrinking budget, with the help of NSF matching fund, can afford to have it. The experiments are designed to make students better engineer practitioners, to convince students that theory indeed makes sense, to finally make control course an interesting subject. The control lab can help to bring examples ranging from bungee jumping to missile tracking in the classroom.