Electrical Engineering
EE 458 - Automatic Controls
Description: Automatic control is central to operation of most electrical and mechanical applications, many that we interact with on a daily basis. From the thermostat that controls the heater in your house, to the cruise control on your car, to the advanced and numerous controls that support flight, automatic control is crucial for the safe and efficient operation of these systems. This course develops an understanding of the theory of automatic control and its applications. The focus is on modeling, analysis, design, and simulation of linear feedback control systems in the frequency domain. The course introduces students to such topics as: the principles, advantages and limitations of feedback control; and widespread application areas of automatic control, especially in electrical and mechanical systems. Upon completion of the course, students will: understand and have practiced developing linear models of physical systems, linearization, Laplace transforms, transfer functions, and manipulating block diagrams; understand the concept of and learn methods for stability and performance analysis of feedback control systems, steady-state error analysis, Routh-Hurwitz stability analysis; have learned and practiced the root locus method for analyzing and designing feedback control systems, PID controller and PID tuning, and lead-lag compensators; have learned and practiced frequency response method for analyzing and designing feedback control systems, Bode plots, and the Nyquist criterion; and have learned to use Matlab, Simulink, and the Matlab's Control System Toolbox for modeling, analysis, and design of feedback control systems. Students will apply this learned knowledge and develop practical skills in modeling, analyzing, and designing automatic control systems through several real-world design examples in computer labs. 2 hrs. lecture, 3 hrs. lab. Lab emphasizes electrical and mechanical applications. Co-convened with EE 558. Letter grade only.
Units:
3
Sections offered:
Fall 2024
Requirement Designation:
Prerequisite: (EE 348 or ME 358) with grades of C or better