Chapter One

Introduction to control systems

1.1 Introduction
Control systems have played an exceedingly
significant role in the development and
advancement of modern civilization and
technology. Almost every aspect of human
life/endeavour is affected by some type of
control systems. All sectors of industry have
control systems evidently in operation.
Quality control of manufactured products,
automatic assembly line, machine tool control,
space technology and weapon systems,
computer control, transportation systems,
power systems, robotics are few control system
applications in modern manufacturing and
industrial processes.
Other areas of application include non-
engineering systems, such as biological,
biomedical, economic, and socioeconomic
systems.
1.3 Definitions of control system terminologies
Control: This means measuring the value of the
controlled variable of the system and comparing it
with the reference input (desired value) so as to
generate an error signal which is used to correct or
limit deviation of the measured value from the
desired value.
Controlled variable: This is the quantity or condition
that is measured and controlled. In
other words, it refers to the output of the system.
Manipulated variable: This is the quantity or
condition that is varied by the controller so as to
adjust the value of the controlled variable. It is
often called the control or actuating signal.
Plant: This may be a piece of equipment,
perhaps just a set of machine parts functioning
together, the purpose of which is to perform a
particular operation. Any physical object to be
controlled may be termed a plant.
System: This is a combination of components
that act together and perform a certain
objective. A system is not limited to physical
ones. The concept of a system can be applied to
abstract, dynamic phenomena such as those
encountered in economics. The word system
should, therefore, be interpreted to imply
physical, biological, economic , and the like,
systems.
Disturbances: A disturbance is a signal that
tends to adversely affect the value of the output
of a system. If a disturbance is generated within
the system, it is called internal, while an
external disturbance is generated outside the
system and is an input.
Feedback control: This refers to an operation that,
in the presence of disturbances, tend to reduce the
difference between the output of a system and
some reference input and that does so on the basis
of this difference.
Single-input-single-output system: This is a
control system that has only one input and one
output. Our discussion in this course will be
restricted to this type of control systems
Multiple-input-multiple-output system: This is a
control system that has many inputs and many
outputs.
1.4 Types of control systems
Control systems can be classified as either open-
loop or closed-loop.
1.4.1 Open-loop control systems
An open-loop control system is a non-feedback
control system whose control action is independent
of the output. This means that the output is neither
measured nor fed back for comparison with the
input, and, therefore, each reference input
corresponds to a fixed operating point.
As shown in Figure 1.1, a controller and a
controlled process constitute the major
components of an open-loop control system.
Depending on the system, the controller may
be a motor, an amplifier, a filter, or a simple
temperature switch.
Since the accuracy of the system depends upon
proper calibration, any alteration of or deviation
from the calibration set point will adversely
affect the system. Therefore, sensitivity of the
controlled variable to changes in disturbance
inputs is the main problem associated with an
open-loop control system.
Examples of an open-loop control system are:
1. A pressing iron without a thermostat
2. An automatic washing machine
3. A traffic light control system
Advantages of open-loop control systems
1. They are simple
2. They are economical
3. The require little maintenance which is not difficult to
carry out
4. Proper calibration is not a problem
Disadvantages of open-loop control systems
1. They are not accurate
2. They are not reliable
3. They are slow
4. They cannot be optimized
1.4.2 Closed-loop control systems
A closed-loop control system is a feedback control
system whose control action is dependent on the
output. In other words, in a feedback control
system, the output signal, or a function of it, is fed
back to be compared with the reference input, and
the difference obtained is used to adjust the plant
to bring the output to a desired value.
Figure 1.2 shows a block diagram of a closed-loop
control system.
Figure 1.2: A block diagram of a closed-loop
control system
As depicted in the figure (Fig. 1.2), a closed-loop
control system has a forward path and a feedback
path. The forward path contains the controller and
the controlled plant while the feedback path
contains a sensor which is used to ‘transduce’ the
output into a manipulable form (electrical signal).
An example of a closed-loop control system is a
thermostatically controlled pressing iron,air
conditioner, or refrigerator.
Advantages of closed-loop control systems
1. They are reliable
2. They are fast
3. A number of variables can be handled
simultaneously
4. They can be optimized
Disadvantages of closed-loop control systems
1. They are expensive
2. They require much maintenance which could be
difficult to carry out.
3. They are very complicated
• 1.4.2.1 Elements of feedback control systems
• Figure 1.3 shows various elements of a
feedback control system:
1. Command input: The command is the externally
generated input.
2. Reference input element: This converts the
command input into a proportional
manipulable signal ( usually electrical signal)
3. Error detector: This compares the measured signal
with the reference input and generates an error
signal that serves as the input to the control
element.
4. Control element: This adjusts the state of the
controlled system in accordance with the error
signal fed into it so as to realize the desired output
level.
5. Controlled system: This is the plant, process,
or system that is being controlled by the
feedback loop.
6. Feedback element: This is used to feed back
the output to the error detector for
comparison with the reference input.
• 1.4.2.2 Types of feedback control systems
Depending upon the purpose of classification,
feedback
control systems may be classified in several ways.
1. According to the type of the feedback element
used, control systems are classified as manual or
automatic. It is termed manual when the feedback
element is a human operator or automatic when
the feedback element is non-human. In the case
of automatic feedback control systems, the
feedback element is usually a sensing device.
2. According to the method of analysis and design,
feedback control systems are categorized as linear
time-varying or linear time-invariant, non-linear
timevarying or non-linear time-invariant.
3. According to the types of signal present in the
system, continuous-data (modulated or non-
modulated) or discrete-data (modulated or non-
modulated) systems are also available.
4. According to the main purpose of the system,
feedback control systems are also classified as
position-control or velocity-control systems.
1.4.2.3 Effects of feedback in control systems
Although the introduction of feedback in a
control system has an evident effect of reducing
the error between the reference input and the
system output, its effects are actually deeper
than mere system error reduction.
We shall now investigate the effects of feedback
on various aspects of system performance
characteristics, such as stability, overall gain and
sensitivity. Let’s consider the simple feedback
system configuration shown in Figure 1.4, where
r is the input signal; y is the output signal; e is
the error signal; and b is the feedback signal.
Figure 1.4: A block diagram of a simple feedback
control system
Taking parameters G and H as constants gains,
the input-output relation of the system is given
as
y G
F  (1.1)
r 1  GH
Effect of feedback on overall gain
As seen from eqn (1.1), feedback affects the gain
G of a non-feedback system by a factor 1 + GH. The
system of Fig. 1.4 is said to have negative feedback
since a minus sign is assigned to the feedback
signal. Since the quantity GH may itself include a
minus sign, the general effect of feedback is that it
may increase or decrease the gain G.
In a practical control system, G and H are
functions of frequency, so the magnitude of 1 +
GH may be greater than 1 in one frequency
range but less than 1 in another. Thus, feedback
could increase the gain of system in one
frequency range but decrease it in another.
Effect of feedback on stability
One of the advantages of incorporating
feedback is that it can stabilize an unstable
system. Let us assume that the feedback system
in Fig 1.4 is unstable (if, for instance, GH
 y G
 (1.2)
r 1  GH  GT

It is apparent that although the properties of G

and H are such that the inner-loop
feedback system is unstable, because GH = -1,
the overall system can be made stable by
properly selecting the outer-loop feedback gain
T. In practice, GH is a function of frequency,
and the stability condition of the closed-loop
system depends on the magnitude and phase of
GH. The conclusion is that feedback can
improve stability if properly applied or be harmful
to stability if not properly applied.
Effect of feedback on sensitivity to parameter
variations
A good control system should be very insensitive to
parameter variations but sensitive to input
commands.
To investigate the effect of feedback on
sensitivity to parameter variations, let’s again
refer to the system in Fig. 1.4 and assume that G
is a gain parameter that may vary. The sensitivity of
the gain of the overall system F to the variation in G
is defined as
percentage change in F
SF  eF/F  (1.3)
G eG/G percentagechange in G
where  F represents the incremental change in
F due to the incremental change in G, orG. By
using eqn (1.1), the sensitivity function is
written as
SF  1 (1.4)
G 1 G
This relation shows that if GH is a positive
constant, the magnitude of the sensitivity
function can be made arbitrarily small by
increasing GH provided that the system
remains stable. It is clear that in an open-loop
system, the gain of the system will respond in a
one-to-one fashion to the variation in
G (i.e.,SGF =1). Again, in practice, GH is a
function of frequency; the magnitude of 1 + GH
may be less than unity over some frequency
ranges, so feedback could be harmful to the
sensitivity to parameter variations in certain
cases.
In general, the sensitivity of the system gain of a
feedback system to parameter variations
depends on where the parameter is located.
Effect of feedback on external disturbance or noise
The effect of feedback on noise and disturbance
depends on where these extraneous signals
occur in the system. No general conclusions can be
reached, but in many situations, feedback can
reduce the effect of noise and disturbance on system
performance.
Consider the system shown in Fig. 1.6 in which r
represents the command signal and n is the
noise signal. In the absence of feedback, that is
H = 0, the output y due to n acting alone is
y G2n (1.5)
With the presence of feedback, the system
output due to n acting alone is
G
y 2
n (1.6)
1G1 G2 H
Comparing the last two equations, it is apparent that the
noise component in the output of eqn (1.6) is reduced
by the factor 1  G1G2 H provided 1G1G2 H
is greater than unity and the system is stable.
Figure 1.6: A block diagram of a feedback control
system with a noise signal
1.5 Examples of control systems
Applicability of control cuts across a wide range of
fields of human endeavour. For example, a typical
industrial environment has numerous control
systems installed to ease both production and
other related activities. Speed controls, process
temperature and pressure controls, position,
thickness, composition, and quality controls are
just few
industrial applications of control. Because the
list of control system applications cannot be
exhausted, mention will only be made of few
important examples here.
Steering control of automobile
In the steering control of an automobile, the
objective is to follow a particular course of travel.
The direction of the two front wheels can be
regarded as the controlled variable,
Or the output y; the direction of the steering
wheel is the actuating signal. The control system,
or plant, comprises the steering mechanism and the
dynamics of the entire automobile. A simple block
diagram of an automobile steering control is
displayed in Fig. 1.7. The error is generated by the
difference between the desired course and the
actual course. The actual course measurement is
obtained by visual and tactile (body movement)
feedback
Figure 1.7: A simple block diagram of an
automobile steering control system
Liquid-level control system
Figure 1.8 shows a schematic diagram of a
liquid-level control system. The control
objective is to keep the liquid level constant by
eliminating the error between the desired level
and the actual level through the pneumatic
valve mechanism. As displayed in Fig.
1.9, the output variable here is the actual level,
the reference input is the desired level, the
feedback element is the float, and the actuator
is the pneumatic valve, while the controller
which also incorporates the error detector is a
form of drive system. A typical example of this
system is the home flush toilet.
Other examples of control systems are:
1. Idle-speed control of automobile
2. Control in virtual prototyping and hardware in
the loop
3. Computer numerical control (CNC) of machine
tools
4. Room temperature control system, etc
1.6 Summary
In this chapter, an introduction to control system
was considered. Topics treated range from
history of control systems, various control system
terminologies, open-loop and closed-loop control
systems, examples of control systems, to effects
feedback has on most control system performance
characteristics.
It was pointed out that feedback can either
make or mar the system to be controlled
depending on how it is applied.
The subsequent chapters will focus on the
treatment of the design and analysis of
feedback control systems, and, because of the
availability of numerous simple analytical
methods for the design and analysis of linear
systems, most of the control systems that will
be considered will be linear time-invariant
systems.