9/2/2017 Control Tutorials for MATLAB and Simulink - Hardware-based Activities

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INTRODUCTION CRUISE CONTROL MOTOR SPEED

SYSTEM

MODELING Hardware-Based Activities

ANALYSIS
Below you will find an extensive list of hardware-based activities that

instructors and individuals can employ to learn the concepts behind the
CONTROL
modeling, controller design, and controller implementation for dynamic

PID systems. The activities as outlined employ an Arduino board (Uno, Mega

2560, etc.) interfaced with a host computer running MATLAB/Simulink,

ROOT LOCUS
though the essence of the various activities can be achieved with alternative
FREQUENCY hardware and software platforms.

STATE-SPACE

DIGITAL

SIMULINK

MODELING

CONTROL

Most of the activities employ the ArduinoIO package, though you can also

use the standard Arduino Hardware Support Package. Both packages

are freely available with the standard MATLAB/Simulink license. Details on

these packages and their installation can be found by following the link

below.

- ArduinoIO Package Installation and Introduction

Contents

RC Circuit

LRC Circuit

Simple Pendulum

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Light bulb

Boost Converter Circuit

DC Motor

RC Circuit

Overview: These activities employ a simple electrical circuit consisting of

only a resistor and a capacitor. This type of circuit is a simple, but important,

example of a dynamic system. The activities explore the modeling, analysis,

and control of the circuit. The Arduino board is employed for generating the

input to the circuit (via a digital output) and for reading the output of the

circuit (via an analog input). The Arduino board also communicates the
recorded data to Simulink for visualization and analysis.

Equipment: Arduino board, breadboard, resistor, capacitor, jumper wires,

ohmmeter (optional), capacitance meter (optional); for Activity 1C you will

also need three potentiometers (10k, 50k, 500k), three operational

amplifiers, one AA battery, and two 9V batteries

Activity 1A: Time-Response Identification of a Resistor

Capacitor (RC) Circuit
Topics covered: modeling electrical systems, first-order systems,

system identification

The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate how to model a simple

electrical system. Specifically, a first principles approach based on the

underlying physics of the circuit and a blackbox approach based on

recorded data are employed. The associated experiment is employed to

demonstrate the blackbox approach, as well as to demonstrate the

accuracy of the resulting models. This activity also provides a physical

example of the common class of first-order systems.

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Activity 1B: Frequency-Response Identification of a Resistor

Capacitor (RC) Circuit
Topics covered: modeling electrical systems, first-order systems,

system identification, frequency response, bode plots

In the previous activity we examined the time response of an RC circuit.

The purpose of this activity is rather to understand the frequency response

of the same circuit. Specifically, we experimentally construct the magnitude

plot portion of the Bode plot for the RC circuit.

Activity 1C: Control of a Resistor Capacitor (RC) Circuit

Topics covered: model-based design, root locus, PI control, steady-

state error, analog control

In this activity we learn how to implement a controller in order to modify a

system's dynamic response. In particular, we employ a system's root locus

to help tune a feedback controller in the presence of uncertainties in the

model. This activity also demonstrates how to implement a control law using

analog electronics.

LRC Circuit

Overview: These activities continue to explore the modeling and analysis of

electrical circuits that was begun in Activity 1. Specifically, an inductor is

added to the circuits. The Arduino board is still employed for reading the

circuit's output and for communicating the data to the host computer, but

now the input to the circuit is supplied by a battery via a pushbutton switch

(or a transistor).

Equipment: Arduino board, breadboard, inductor, resistors, capacitors,

jumper wires, switch (pushbutton), AA battery, transistor (optional),

operational amplifier (optional), ohmmeter (optional), capacitance meter

(optional)

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Activity 2A: Time Response of an Inductor Resistor Capacitor

(LRC) Circuit
Topics covered: modeling electrical systems, underdamped second-

order systems, system identification

The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate how to model a simple

electrical system. Specifically, a first-principles approach based on the

underlying physics of the circuit is be employed. The associated experiment

is employed to determine the accuracy of the resulting model and to

demonstrate how the individual circuit components affect the response. This

activity also provides a physical example of the common class of

(underdamped) second-order systems.

Activity 2B: Electrical Circuits in Series

Topics covered: modeling electrical systems, loading, higher-order
systems, filtering, isolation

The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate how to model circuits in

series. In particular, the phenomenon of loading is investigated. Also, how

to predict the response of higher-order systems is discussed.

Simple Pendulum

Overview: This activity employs a simple pendulum. A pendulum is an

illustrative example of a mechanical system whose dynamics are periodic

and nonlinear. The Arduino board is simply used to record and transmit the
pendulum's angular position as indicated by a rotary potentiometer

employed as a sensor.

Equipment: Arduino board, simple pendulum (slender metal bar with end

weight), rotary potentiometer

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Activity 3: Modeling of a Simple Pendulum

Topics covered: modeling rotational mechanical systems, nonlinear

systems, underdamped second-order systems, sampling effects

(aliasing, quantization), system identification

The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate how to model a rotational

mechanical system. Specifically, the theory of modeling is discussed with an

emphasis on which simplifying assumptions are appropriate in this case.

The associated experiment is employed to demonstrate how to identify

different aspects of a physical system, as well as to demonstrate the

accuracy of the resulting model.

Light bulb

Overview: In this activity we model a thermal system (a light bulb) and

implement different strategies for controlling the system's temperature using

an inexpensive temperature sensor for feedback. The Arduino board is

used for generating the control input to the system and for recording the
system's output (its temperature). The control logic is developed in Simulink

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and is alternately run on the host computer or embedded on the Arduino

board.

Equipment: Arduino board, light bulb, AC solid-state relay, temperature

sensor

Activity 4: Temperature Control of a Light Bulb

Topics covered: blackbox modeling, first-order systems, ON/OFF
control, PI control, steady-state error, embedded control, autocode

generation

The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate how to control switched

systems. The light bulb is a binary system with only two states, on or off.
The light bulb is either connected to the AC source or it is not; its intensity

cannot be modulated. In this experiment, we observe the resulting

"chattering" behavior of the light bulb and investigate alternative

methodologies for reducing the frequency of this chatter, or smoothing the

chatter, through the use of deadbands, low-pass filters, and Pulse-Width

Modulation. This activity also provides exposure to Proportional (P) control,

Proportional-Integral (PI) control, and first-order systems.

Boost Converter Circuit

Overview: These activities employ a type of DC-DC converter circuit called

a boost converter circuit. A boost converter circuit takes a DC voltage input

(i.e. from a battery) and can be controlled to produce a higher level of DC

voltage at its output. This type of circuit has many important applications.

The Arduino board is used for measuring the output of the circuit (via an

analog input) and for controlling the level of the circuit's output voltage (via a
digital output). The control logic is developed in Simulink and is alternately

run on the host computer or embedded on the Arduino board.

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Equipment: Arduino board, breadboard, AA battery, inductor, resistor,

capacitor, diode, transistor (MOSFET), jumper wires

Activity 5A: Time-Response Analysis of a Boost Converter

Circuit
Topics covered: modeling electrical systems, time-response analysis,
system identification, pulse-width modulation

The purpose of this activity is to build intuition regarding the operation of a

boost converter circuit. The activity also demonstrates two techniques for

modeling and analyzing a simple electrical system. The first approach

models the circuit based on its underlying physics and compares the

predicted time response of the circuit to data taken from a physical

implementation of the circuit. The second approach models the circuit

based on experimentally obtained frequency response data and can be

found in Part (b) of the activity.

Activity 5B: Frequency Response Identification of a Boost

Converter Circuit
Topics covered: frequency response analysis, system identification,

nonlinear systems, pulse-width modulation, bode plots

In this part of the activity we model the boost converter circuit based on
experimentally obtained frequency response data. This technique provides

intuition regarding frequency response analysis and demonstrates a

blackbox approach for generating an approximate (local) model of a

nonlinear system.

Activity 5C: Feedback Control of a Boost Converter Circuit

Topics covered: frequency response analysis, system identification,

lead compensation, embedded control, autocode generation

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The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate how to design a controller

using frequency response techniques based on an empirically derived, and

imperfect, plant model. Furthermore, this activity demonstrates how

embedded controllers are often designed and implemented in practice using

modern design and code generation tools.

DC Motor

Overview: These activities employ a simple DC motor which is a common

and important type of actuator found in many industrial applications and

consumer products. In particular, the motor is modeled, analyzed, and

controlled to achieve a desired speed response. The motor's speed is

estimated from the output of a quadrature encoder which is read via two

digital inputs of the Arduino board. The motor's speed is controlled using

pulse-width modulation via one of the board's digital outputs. The logic for
estimating the motor's speed based on encoder counts and the logic for

controlling the motor's speed is developed in Simulink. Initially this logic is

run on the host computer, but subsequently all of the logic is downloaded to

the Arduino board.

Equipment: Arduino board, breadboard, DC motor with quadrature

encoder, battery (ex: lantern battery), diode, transistor (MOSFET), jumper

wires

Activity 6A: Time-Reponse Analysis of a DC Motor

Topics covered: modeling electromechanical systems, time-response
analysis, system identification, reduced-order models, pulse-width

modulation, filtering

The purpose of this activity is to build intuition regarding the operation of an

armature-controlled DC motor. The activity also generates a blackbox

model for the motor based on its step response. This type of model is

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compared to a physics-based model. The need and effects of filtering are

also explored.

Activity 6B: PI Speed Control of a DC Motor

Topics covered: pulse-width modulation, PI control, pole placement,
steady-state error, disturbance rejection, saturation, integrator wind-

up, embedded control

The purpose of this activity is to build intuition regarding the design and

implementation of a PI controller for the speed control of a DC motor in the

presence of an array of real-world complications. Specifically, we consider

how to design the controller when we have an uncertain plant model and

are limited in the amount of control effort we can supply. Furthermore, we

analyze our system's performance in the presence of unwanted exogenous

inputs, which in this case is a constant load disturbance.

Published with MATLAB 8.2

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