Teaching
Introduction to Control Theory

Introduction to Control Theory (UW ME 545)

Lectures

Each lecture page has the video (where one exists), the full lecture text with figures, and references to N. S. Nise, Control Systems Engineering (6th ed.; section and page numbers refer to that edition) and to X. Chen and M. Tomizuka, Introduction to Modern Controls, with Illustrations in MATLAB and Python.

Part I: Introduction and Review

  1. The Power of Controls
  2. Block Diagram Simplification
  3. Modeling of Dynamic Systems
  4. The Laplace Transform
  5. The Inverse Laplace Transform

Part II: Time-Domain and Transfer-Function Analysis

  1. First- and Second-Order Systems
  2. From Step Response to System Parameters
  3. Dominant Pole Analysis
  4. The Effect of Zeros
  5. Stability Analysis: the Routh-Hurwitz Approach
  6. PD Control of an Unstable System

Part III: Time-Domain Design

  1. Steady-State Error
  2. The Root Locus Technique
  3. Angles of Departure and Arrival
  4. High-Order Poles and the Root Locus
  5. Pole Locations and the Second-Order Response
  6. Transient Design with Root Locus Using PD Control
  7. From PD Control to Lead Compensator and Steady-State Error Improvement with Lag Compensator
  8. PID Design with the Root Locus and Python

Part IV: Frequency-Domain Analysis and Design

  1. Bode Plots: Sinusoidal Response, Magnitude and Phase
  2. Bode Plots: Phase Lead, Multiple Poles and Resonance
  3. Bode Plots: Dominant Poles, Zeros and Model Approximation
  4. Nyquist Stability: Frequency Response and the Argument Principle
  5. Nyquist Stability: Encirclements and the Nyquist Criterion
  6. Nyquist Plots with Imaginary-Axis Poles: Contour Detours
  7. Nyquist Stability: Worked Example, Gain and Phase Margins