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Quantitative Feedback Theory
In control theory, quantitative feedback theory (QFT), developed by Isaac Horowitz (Horowitz, 1963; Horowitz and Sidi, 1972), is a frequency domain technique utilising the Nichols chart (NC) in order to achieve a desired robust design over a specified region of plant uncertainty. Desired time-domain responses are translated into frequency domain tolerances, which lead to bounds (or constraints) on the loop transmission function. The design process is highly transparent, allowing a designer to see what trade-offs are necessary to achieve a desired performance level. Plant templates Usually any system can be represented by its Transfer Function ( Laplace in continuous time domain), after getting the model of a system. As a result of experimental measurement, values of coefficients in the Transfer Function have a range of uncertainty. Therefore, in QFT every parameter of this function is included into an interval of possible values, and the system may be represented by a family of p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Control Theory
Control theory is a field of 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. To do this, a controller with the requisite corrective behavior is required. This controller monitors the controlled process variable (PV), and compares it with the reference or set point (SP). The difference between actual and desired value of the process variable, called the ''error'' signal, or SP-PV error, is applied as feedback to generate a control action to bring the controlled process variable to the same value as the set point. Other aspects which are also studied are controllability and observability. Control theory is used in control system eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Process Control
An industrial process control in continuous production processes is a discipline that uses industrial control systems to achieve a production level of consistency, economy and safety which could not be achieved purely by human manual control. It is implemented widely in industries such as automotive, mining, dredging, oil refining, pulp and paper manufacturing, chemical processing and power generating plants. There is a wide range of size, type and complexity, but it enables a small number of operators to manage complex processes to a high degree of consistency. The development of large industrial process control systems was instrumental in enabling the design of large high volume and complex processes, which could not be otherwise economically or safely operated. The applications can range from controlling the temperature and level of a single process vessel, to a complete chemical processing plant with several thousand control loops. History Early process control breakthrou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intelligent Control
Intelligent control is a class of control techniques that use various artificial intelligence computing approaches like neural networks, Bayesian probability, fuzzy logic, machine learning, reinforcement learning, evolutionary computation and genetic algorithms. Overview Intelligent control can be divided into the following major sub-domains: * Neural network control * Machine learning control * Reinforcement learning * Bayesian control * Fuzzy control * Neuro-fuzzy control * Expert Systems * Genetic control New control techniques are created continuously as new models of intelligent behavior are created and computational methods developed to support them. Neural network controller Neural networks have been used to solve problems in almost all spheres of science and technology. Neural network control basically involves two steps: * System identification * Control It has been shown that a feedforward network with nonlinear, continuous and differentiable activation function ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robust Control
In control theory, robust control is an approach to controller design that explicitly deals with uncertainty. Robust control methods are designed to function properly provided that uncertain parameters or disturbances are found within some (typically compact) set. Robust methods aim to achieve robust performance and/or stability in the presence of bounded modelling errors. The early methods of Bode and others were fairly robust; the state-space methods invented in the 1960s and 1970s were sometimes found to lack robustness, prompting research to improve them. This was the start of the theory of robust control, which took shape in the 1980s and 1990s and is still active today. In contrast with an adaptive control policy, a robust control policy is static, rather than adapting to measurements of variations, the controller is designed to work assuming that certain variables will be unknown but bounded. (Section 1.5) In German; an English version is also available Criteria for robustn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptive Control
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. Parameter estimation The foundation of adaptive control is parameter estimation, which is a branch of system identification. Common methods of estimation include recursive least squares and gradient descent. Both of these methods provide update laws that are used to modify estimates in real-time (i.e., as the system operates). L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonlinear Control
Nonlinear control theory is the area of control theory which deals with systems that are nonlinear, time-variant, or both. Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that is concerned with the behavior of dynamical systems with inputs, and how to modify the output by changes in the input using feedback, feedforward, or signal filtering. The system to be controlled is called the "plant". One way to make the output of a system follow a desired reference signal is to compare the output of the plant to the desired output, and provide feedback to the plant to modify the output to bring it closer to the desired output. Control theory is divided into two branches. Linear control theory applies to systems made of devices which obey the superposition principle. They are governed by linear differential equations. A major subclass is systems which in addition have parameters which do not change with time, called ''linear time invariant'' (LTI ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Servomechanism
In control engineering a servomechanism, usually shortened to servo, is an automatic device that uses error-sensing negative feedback to correct the action of a mechanism. On displacement-controlled applications, it usually includes a built-in encoder or other position feedback mechanism to ensure the output is achieving the desired effect. The term correctly applies only to systems where the feedback or error-correction signals help control mechanical position, speed, attitude or any other measurable variables. For example, an automotive power window control is not a servomechanism, as there is no automatic feedback that controls position—the operator does this by observation. By contrast a car's cruise control uses closed-loop feedback, which classifies it as a servomechanism. Applications Position control A common type of servo provides ''position control''. Commonly, servos are electric, hydraulic, or pneumatic. They operate on the principle of negative feedback, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Optimal Control
Optimal control theory is a branch of mathematical optimization that deals with finding a control for a dynamical system over a period of time such that an objective function is optimized. It has numerous applications in science, engineering and operations research. For example, the dynamical system might be a spacecraft with controls corresponding to rocket thrusters, and the objective might be to reach the moon with minimum fuel expenditure. Or the dynamical system could be a nation's economy, with the objective to minimize unemployment; the controls in this case could be fiscal and monetary policy. A dynamical system may also be introduced to embed operations research problems within the framework of optimal control theory. Optimal control is an extension of the calculus of variations, and is a mathematical optimization method for deriving control policies. The method is largely due to the work of Lev Pontryagin and Richard Bellman in the 1950s, after contributions to calc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
H Infinity
''H''∞ (i.e. "''H''-infinity") methods are used in control theory to synthesize controllers to achieve stabilization with guaranteed performance. To use ''H''∞ methods, a control designer expresses the control problem as a mathematical optimization problem and then finds the controller that solves this optimization. ''H''∞ techniques have the advantage over classical control techniques in that ''H''∞ techniques are readily applicable to problems involving multivariate systems with cross-coupling between channels; disadvantages of ''H''∞ techniques include the level of mathematical understanding needed to apply them successfully and the need for a reasonably good model of the system to be controlled. It is important to keep in mind that the resulting controller is only optimal with respect to the prescribed cost function and does not necessarily represent the best controller in terms of the usual performance measures used to evaluate controllers such as settling time, ener ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unicycle Cart
The term unicycle is often used in robotics and control theory to mean a generalised cart or car moving in a two-dimensional world; these are also often called "unicycle-like" or "unicycle-type" vehicles. This usage is distinct from the literal sense of " one wheeled robot bicycle". These theoretical vehicles are typically shown as having two parallel driven wheels, one mounted on each side of their centre, and (presumably) some sort of offset castor to maintain balance; although in general they could be any vehicle capable of simultaneous arbitrary rotation and translation. An alternative realization uses a single driven wheel with steering, and a pair of idler wheels to give balance and allow a steering torque to be applied. A physically realisable unicycle, in this sense, is a nonholonomic system. This is a system in which a return to the original internal (wheel) configuration does not guarantee return to the original system (unicycle) position. In other words, the system o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feedback
Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled carefully when applied to feedback systems: History Self-regulating mechanisms have existed since antiquity, and the idea of feedback had started to enter economic theory in Britain by the 18th century, but it was not at that time recognized as a universal abstraction and so did not have a name. The first ever known artificial feedback device was a float valve, for maintaining water at a constant level, invented in 270 BC in Alexandria, Egypt. This device illustrated the principle of feedback: a low water level opens the valve, the rising water then provides feedback into the system, closing the valve when the required level is reached. This then reoccurs in a circular fashion as the water level fluctuates. Centrifugal governors were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac Horowitz
Isaac Horowitz (December 15, 1920 - 2005) was a notable scientist with significant contributions to automatic control theory. He developed and championed the Quantitative Feedback Theory which for the first time introduced a formal combination of the genuine frequency methodology founded by Hendrik Bode with plant uncertainty considerations. Biography Isaac Horowitz was born one of 11 siblings in the British mandate of Palestine, modern Israel, in the city of Safed. His family moved to New York City when he was five years old and shortly thereafter settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He received the B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Manitoba in 1944. In 1948, he received a B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from MIT. Between 1951 and 1956, he was a full-time instructor and a part-time graduate student at the Polytechnic University of New York The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
