Control theory

From Wiki @ Karl Jones dot com
Revision as of 11:27, 24 August 2016 by Karl Jones (Talk | contribs) (External links)

Jump to: navigation, search

Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems with inputs, and how their behavior is modified by feedback.

Description

The usual objective of control theory is to control a system, often called the plant, so its output follows a desired control signal, called the reference, which may be a fixed or changing value.

To do this a controller is designed, which monitors the output and compares it with the reference. The difference between actual and desired output, called the error signal, is applied as feedback to the input of the system, to bring the actual output closer to the reference.

Topics

Topics studied in control theory include:

Block diagrams

Extensive use is usually made of a diagrammatic style known as the block diagram.

The transfer function, also known as the system function or network function, is a mathematical representation of the relation between the input and output based on the differential equations describing the system.

Applications

As the general theory of feedback systems, control theory is useful wherever feedback occurs.

Control theory has applications in a wide range of fields, including:

See also

External links