An integrated undergraduate teaching laboratory approach to multivariable control

This paper discusses an integrated teaching laboratory approach to multivariable control as part of final year undergraduate and graduate control courses successfully taught by the authors in recent years. The perceived jump in mathematical sophistication required of students and the uneasy fit with previously learned classical control material are eliminated. One such laboratory teaching situation is described in detail. This concerns the multivariable control of a two-input two-output coupled-drives apparatus where the control objective is the simultaneous control of belt speed and tension using the input voltages to the two servo drive motors as control inputs. As with classical single-input single-output (SISO) control, student tasks involve plant modeling, analysis, specification, design and implementation in that order. The multivariable control approach adopted is known as individual channel analysis and design (ICAD). Of particular value to students and instructors alike is the fact that this approach to multivariable control is very classical-like in its motivations and feel while fully cognizant of multivariable structure. As a result, multivariable control that directly extends classical control principles is well within the reach of final year undergraduate students in an integrated teaching laboratory environment.