Book Reviews
Automatic Control Systems (Fifth Edition)*
Benjamin
Reviewer: PROFESSOR T O R K E L G L A D
Department of Electrical Engineering, Link6ping University
of Technology, S-581 83 Link6ping, Sweden.
THE BOOK UNDER REVIEW is a classic introductory text in
Automatic Control, this being the fifth edition. As the
subject has grown and matured, the task of writing such a
book has in a sense grown more difficult. This is mainly
because the number of topics that are considered essential
have grown, so that much material has to be covered even in
a basic textbook. The size of the book, 720 pp. bears
testimony to this. Even so, many things have to be excluded
and one major task of the book writer is to decide what
should be included and what should be left to more advanced
courses/books.
Essentially there are three things you need for a systematic
design of a controller. You need a model of the system,
methods for analyzing the model and methods for
synthesizing a controller for it. To show how a model is
obtained, the author has included a chapter on modeling of
physical systems. The modeling is done in state space and the
concept of state is motivated from a physical point of view.
Several typical servo applications illustrate the modeling
process. The other possible way of obtaining models, via
identification, is not mentioned in the book.
When it comes to the analysis of models, there are many
questions. Should the analysis be done in continuous time or
discrete time, in the time or in the frequency domain, using
state space or input-output models? What makes control
systems special from the continuous-discrete time point of
view is that they are usually hybrids. A physical plant that
evolves in continuous time is controlled by a computer that
operates in discrete time. Thus it is difficult to give even an
introductory control course without touching on both cases.
In this book the author has concentrated on the continuous
time description that is natural from the point of view of
process modeling. In Chapter 5 there is a description of the
sampling of a state space model for piecewise constant
inputs. The description of the Nyquist criterion in Chapter 9
also contains a discussion of its discrete time counterpart.
The preference for frequency or time domain analysis has
shifted back and f o r ~ during the development of Automatic
Control. After the period of classical frequency analysis with
Bode, Nyquist and Nichols there came the state space era
which was followed by a renewed interest in frequency
methods, spurred in part by robustness problems. One
consequence of this is that the control engineer, who wants
to deepen his knowledge by further reading, has to know
both aspects. As a consequence the present book treats both
time and frequency domain analysis in detail. From the
discussion of modeling in the state space it comes natural to
develop time domain analysis using the state space
formalism. This includes the state transition matrix,
controllability and observability, canonical forms and related
issues.
There is a detailed discussion on the relations between the
time response and the poles of the system. This is followed
up with a discussion of the root locus technique. The
frequency domain analysis includes a discussion of the
connection between system properties and the transfer
* Automatic Control Systems (Fifth Edition), by B. C.
Kuo. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey (1987).
736 pp. US $24.95. £15.95.
AUTO 24:6-H
849
C. Kuo
function. The interpretation of Bode, Nyquist and Nichols
diagrams is dealt with in great detail.
The design methods described include classical techniques
based on the root locus, and compensation based on the
Bode and Nichols diagrams. They are supported by
numerous examples. The state space methods are less well
represented. Pole placement via state feedback is treated but
not observers. The use of integrators with state feedback is
discussed, however. This is a topic that is often missing in
introductory texts on state space methods. From the
engineering point of view it is essential of course, since so
many control systems need the integrator to work at all.
More advanced topics such as linear quadratic control are
excluded.
The treatment of state space has a problem that is
probably well known to many people who have taught
automatic control courses. A lot of time and effort is spent
developing the machinery of state space theory, including
matrix exponentials, controllability and observability, etc.
This machinery is not used to such an extent that it seems
justified to the student however. The only design tool is pole
placement using state space techniques. The topics that really
show up the possibilities, like optimal control, Kalman
filtering, time variable systems, nonlinear systems, are not
touched upon. To include all the topics in an elementary
textbook is obviously impossible. The solution of excluding
state space theory would completely leave students badly
equipped for deeper studies in control. Perhaps the problem
is insolvable. Maybe the inclusion of state reconstruction
with observers, in Kuo's book, would have rounded off the
state space presentation nicely.
The strength of the book probably lies in its detailed and
well thought out explanations of central topics like the root
locus and the Nyquist criterion. These are accompanied by
many figures showing the relationships being discussed. The
explanations of some of the state space ideas seem less
complete. In the discussion of the criterion of observability
for instance, the observability test matrix crops up without
any explanation. The author does not give a mathematical
proof of the result, which is reasonable, considering the aim
of the book (a reference is given where a proof can be
found). However, it would have been possible to gi~e some
motivation, for instance by showing how the state can be
computed from the output and its derivatives.
Throughout the book there is a conscious effort of tying
together the theory with physical reality, mainly with
examples and the large collection of problems. In this
context it is of interest for the student to know when he can
expect the models to agree with reality and when he cannot.
One major cause of such a disagreement is the presence of
nonlinearities. These do not show up in the linear model, of
course. It would lead too far if a detailed discussion of
nonlinear system theory were included in a book like this. At
the same time one feels that the reader should be made to
realize that the world is not linear. Kuo has solved the
problem by giving a discussion of nonlinear models and
linearization around an operating point. Perhaps it would be
nice to have some discussion of nonlinear effects in the
design chapters. Reading, for example, about pole
placement, and looking just at the mathematics, one might
get the idea that any system can be made as fast as desired,
while in practice there is a limitation due to saturation of the
signals, even if there is no other nonlinear effect.
Taking an overview one feels that on the whole the book
represents a good choice on what should and should not be
850
included in an introductory text. Certainly the core material
is well covered and accompanied by the examples and
problems that are needed for understanding. Obviously
Kuo's book must be considered when one chooses the text
book for a course in Automatic Control.
About the reviewer
TORKEL GLAD was born in Lund, Sweden in 1947. He
received the M.S. degree (Civilingenj6r) in engineering
Book Reviews
physics in 1970 and the Ph.D. degree in automatic control in
1976, both from the Lurid Institute of Technology, Lund,
Sweden. Since 1977 he has been employed as a Senior
Lecturer in Control at the Department of Electrical
Engineering, Link6ping University in LinkOping, Sweden.
His research interests include nonlinear systems, optimal
control and mathematical programming.