Control theory is a field of control engineering and applied mathematics that deals with the control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines. The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the application of system inputs to drive the system to a desired state, while minimizing any delay, overshoot, or steady-state error and ensuring a level of control stability; often with the aim to achieve a degree of optimality.
The field of system identification uses statistical methods to build mathematical models of dynamical systems from measured data. System identification also includes the optimal design of experiments for efficiently generating informative data for fitting such models as well as model reduction. A common approach is to start from measurements of the behavior of the system and the external influences and try to determine a mathematical relation between them without going into many details of what is actually happening inside the system; this approach is called black box system identification.
Model predictive control (MPC) is an advanced method of process control that is used to control a process while satisfying a set of constraints. It has been in use in the process industries in chemical plants and oil refineries since the 1980s. In recent years it has also been used in power system balancing models and in power electronics. Model predictive controllers rely on dynamic models of the process, most often linear empirical models obtained by system identification. The main advantage of MPC is the fact that it allows the current timeslot to be optimized, while keeping future timeslots in account. This is achieved by optimizing a finite time-horizon, but only implementing the current timeslot and then optimizing again, repeatedly, thus differing from a linear–quadratic regulator (LQR). Also MPC has the ability to anticipate future events and can take control actions accordingly. PID controllers do not have this predictive ability. MPC is nearly universally implemented as a digital control, although there is research into achieving faster response times with specially designed analog circuitry.
Adaptive control is the control method used by a controller which must adapt to a controlled system with parameters which vary, or are initially uncertain. For example, as an aircraft flies, its mass will slowly decrease as a result of fuel consumption; a control law is needed that adapts itself to such changing conditions. Adaptive control is different from robust control in that it does not need a priori information about the bounds on these uncertain or time-varying parameters; robust control guarantees that if the changes are within given bounds the control law need not be changed, while adaptive control is concerned with control law changing itself.
In control theory, the coefficient diagram method (CDM) is an algebraic approach applied to a polynomial loop in the parameter space, where a special diagram called a "coefficient diagram" is used as the vehicle to carry the necessary information, and as the criterion of good design. The performance of the closed loop system is monitored by the coefficient diagram.
Harold (Hall) Chestnut was an American electrical engineer, control engineer and manager at General Electric and author, who helped establish the fields of control theory and systems engineering.
Alexey Grigoryevich Ivakhnenko was a Soviet and Ukrainian mathematician most famous for developing the group method of data handling (GMDH), a method of inductive statistical learning, for which he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of deep learning".
Michael Athans was a Greek-American control theorist and a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a Fellow of the IEEE (1973) and a Fellow of the AAAS (1977). He was the recipient of numerous awards for his contributions in the field of control theory. A pioneer in the field of control theory, he helped shape modern control theory and spearheaded the field of multivariable control system design and the field of robust control. Athans was a member of the technical staff at Lincoln Laboratory from 1961 to 1964, and a Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science faculty member from 1964 to 1998. Upon retirement, Athans moved to Lisbon, Portugal, where he was an Invited Research Professor in the Institute for Systems and Robotics, Instituto Superior Técnico where he received a honoris causa doctorate from the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa in 2011.
Jan Hendrik van Schuppen is a Dutch mathematician and Professor at the Department of Mathematics of the Vrije Universiteit, known for his contributions in the field of systems theory, particularly on control theory and system identification, on probability, and on a number of related practical applications.
Jakob Stoustrup is a Danish researcher employed at Aalborg University, where he serves as professor of control theory at the Department of Electronic Systems.
Design Automation usually refers to electronic design automation, or Design Automation which is a Product Configurator. Extending Computer-Aided Design (CAD), automated design and Computer-Automated Design (CAutoD) are more concerned with a broader range of applications, such as automotive engineering, civil engineering, composite material design, control engineering, dynamic system identification and optimization, financial systems, industrial equipment, mechatronic systems, steel construction, structural optimisation, and the invention of novel systems.
A networked control system (NCS) is a control system wherein the control loops are closed through a communication network. The defining feature of an NCS is that control and feedback signals are exchanged among the system's components in the form of information packages through a network.
Dragoslav D. Šiljak is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Santa Clara University, where he held the title of Benjamin and Mae Swig University Professor. He is best known for developing the mathematical theory and methods for control of complex dynamic systems characterized by large-scale, information structure constraints and uncertainty.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to control engineering:
Wassim Michael Haddad is a Lebanese-Greek-American applied mathematician, scientist, and engineer, with research specialization in the areas of dynamical systems and control. His research has led to fundamental breakthroughs in applied mathematics, thermodynamics, stability theory, robust control, dynamical system theory, and neuroscience. Professor Haddad is a member of the faculty of the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he holds the rank of Professor and Chair of the Flight Mechanics and Control Discipline. Dr. Haddad is a member of the Academy of Nonlinear SciencesArchived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine for recognition of paramount contributions to the fields of nonlinear stability theory, nonlinear dynamical systems, and nonlinear control and an IEEE Fellow for contributions to robust, nonlinear, and hybrid control systems.
Ji-Feng Zhang was born in Shandong, China. He is currently the vice-chair of the technical board of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), the vice-president of the Systems Engineering Society of China (SESC), the vice-president of the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA), the chair of the technical committee on Control Theory (CAA), and the editor-in-chief for both All About Systems and Control and the Journal of Systems Science and Mathematical Sciences.
Karl Henrik Johansson is a Swedish researcher and best known for his pioneering contributions to networked control systems, cyber-physical systems, and hybrid systems. His research has had particular application impact in transportation, automation, and energy networks. He holds a Chaired Professorship in Networked Control at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. He is Director of KTH Digital Futures.
Mengchu Zhou is a Chinese-American Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering in the Helen and John C. Hartmann Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and at Macau University of Science and Technology. He is the Chairman of IKAS Industries of Shenzhen in China and a Board Member of OneSmart Education Group headquartered in China.
In mathematics, zero dynamics is known as the concept of evaluating the effect of zero on systems.
Alexander Aronovich Feldbaum was a Soviet scientist in the field of automatic control and fundamental computer science. He is one of the founders of optimal control, and proposed dual control theory in the study of self-adjusting and self-learning systems.
