Closed-Loop Control in Networked Control Systems 2025s [CLC 2025s]

Contents

A significant part of all software is developed for technical embedded applications, e.g. for cars, planes, production plants, machine tools, robots etc. These applications differ from desktop software in that way that the software uses also sensor signals as inputs and sends control signals to actuators (e.g. motors or valves) as outputs. These outputs have an influence on the sensor signals again, therefore we speak of “closed-loop control”. Closed-loop control requires special algorithms (controllers) and design methods to avoid damages or injuries due to instability.

The lecture concentrates on state-of-the-art controllers and practical aspects like the realization of controllers in industry-standard PLCs and microcontrollers. One further main focus lies on network issues, because nearly all modern control loops include network transmissions for sensor or actuator signals. Transmission delays or packet losses may have critical consequences for the control loop stability. Also related topics like stability, robustness, adaptive control, and safety will be touched.

In the labs, the participants solve control design tasks using simulation tools like Matlab/Simulink (the dominant tool for engineers both in industrial practice and science) and Plexe (a tool specialized on control loop tests for cooperative vehicles). These excercises shall give the students a practical feeling for typical problems and solutions in controller design due to own hands-on experience.

In the practical part, the participants will implement own controllers on a microcontroller (or PLC, if preferred), as close as possible to industrial practice.

Preliminary Timeline

Prerequisites

There are no formal prerequisites for joining. It is advantageous if you have taken the course “Systemorientierte Informatik” or a similar course focused on systems theory and control fundamentals. However, these basics are roughly repeated at the beginning of the course.

Learning Outcome

Students will be able to design and implement controllers for usual applications in technical domains. They know the critical aspects of control loops and methods to deal with them. Further, they are able to discuss with control engineers on a professional level if they develop industry-related software (e.g. for process monitoring or machine learning applications).

General Information / Methods

This course will be held in English (German, if universally preferred) and all the course material is available in English. Course material will be distributed/collected via OPAL.

All slides will be presented in a weekly on-campus meeting.

Questions? Comments? Join the discussion in our Matrix Room #nsm-course-clc:tu-dresden.de (reachable from the TU Dresden Matrix server) or add a post to our OPAL forum!

Grading

Oral examination (by appointment).

Option of written exam if 32 participants or more where covered by degree program regulations.

If you want to take an exam, please pre-register with us in the first two weeks of lecture. This is in addition to the regular exam registration you will need to do later in the semester. See the organizational slide deck for details.

Instructors

• Burkhard Hensel

Slides

• see OPAL

Literature

The following literature covers parts of the course and is available in SLUB Dresden:

• Dimitrios Hristu-Varsakelis and William S. Levine: Handbook of networked and embedded control systems. Birkhäuser, Boston, 2005. Available in SLUB.
• Jing Sun: Control Engineering: Fundamentals. De Gruyter, Berlin, 2018. Available in SLUB.
• William S. Levine (editor): Control system fundamentals. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2000. Available in SLUB.
• Ashish Tewari: Modern control design: With MATLAB and SIMULINK. Wiley, Chichester, 2002. Available in SLUB.
• Antonio Visioli: Practical PID Control. Springer, London, 2006. Available in SLUB.

German literature:

• Hans Kaufmann, Eckehard Kalhöfer, Alexander Pflug, Jürgen Baur, and Dietmar Schmid: Automatisierungstechnik: Grundlagen, Komponenten und Systeme für die Industrie 4.0. Europa-Lehrmittel, Haan-Gruiten, 14th edition, 2021.
• Gerhard Lämmlin, Otto Spielvogel, Thomas Klatt, Walter Eichler, Hans Hebel, Ulrich Winter, Eckhard Thiele, and Alexander Scheib: Fachkunde Mechatronik. Europa-Lehrmittel, Haan-Gruiten, 6nd edition, 2019. Available in SLUB.
• Holger Lutz and Wolfgang Wendt: Taschenbuch der Regelungstechnik: mit MATLAB und Simulink., Europa-Lehrmittel, Haan-Gruiten, 12th edition, 2021. Available in SLUB.
• Jan Lunze: Regelungstechnik 1: Systemtheoretische Grundlagen, Analyse und Entwurf einschleifiger Regelungen. Springer, Berlin, 9th edition, 2013. Available in SLUB.
• Jan Lunze: Regelungstechnik 2: Mehrgrößensysteme, digitale Regelung. Springer, Berlin, 9th edition, 2016. Available in SLUB.