Control Engineering (H6105)

15 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

You cover two fundamental topics in control engineering:

  • the modelling, analysis and control of discrete-time systems
  • the state-space analysis and control design of continuous and discrete systems.

It includes practical activities, in which feedback controllers are designed with Matlab/Simulink for physical systems to achieve desired performance specifications.

Topics include:

  • review on modelling and control of linear systems
  • modelling of discrete-time systems – transfer function and discrete transforms discrete systems analysis – Jury criterion, performances of discrete systems synthesis of discrete controllers for continuous systems
  • analysis of system and control design using state-space (continuous and discrete) – controllability, observability, stability, full state feedback, pole placement method
  • nonlinear systems – linearized model of nonlinear systems around equilibrium points
  • introduction to modern control strategies – state estimator, optimal control (LQR).

Teaching

54%: Lecture
46%: Practical (Laboratory, Workshop)

Assessment

30%: Coursework (Group submission (written), Test)
70%: Examination (Unseen examination)

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 44 hours of contact time and about 106 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.