Aims & Learning Objectives:
To introduce students to the design processes by taking a requirement through to a prototype device. To give students a basic understanding of a wide range of both analogue and digital control system design techniques.After completing this unit, students should be able to: write a design specification for a product; carry out a top-down systematic design; identify and specify interface requirements for sub-systems; design forward path and feedback path analogue control systems; design unity feedback discrete time digital controllers; demonstrate an appreciation of how assumptions about the system model can affect the effectiveness of the design solution.
Product design: Preparation of specifications; definition of systems and sub-systems.Reliability methods: FMEA, FTA, reliability estimating.Design exercise: Working in groups to produce a prototype of a small system using electronics for monitoring, control, measurement and signal processing.Control design techniques: system modelling for controller design; graphical design methods for analogue control systems; discrete time controller design methods. Hardware & Software design issues.