Graduate Control Systems Engineering

Control systems are the critical center of any vehicle system. Examples of control systems are numerous and multifaceted: climate control for passenger comfort in an automobile, automatic cruise control, engine control and pollution control are some typical illustrations. Design of control systems for practical applications requires a through understanding of physical models of the process, mathematical modeling techniques, transient behavior of systems and dynamic characteristics of a physical system.

The Control Systems certificate program will introduce the participants to mathematical techniques of system analysis, use of software, such as Matlab, to enhance the student’s experience, system modeling, continuous and discrete time control techniques, including analog and digital PID controllers, digital control, fuzzy logic control, neural network controller, etc. At the next level, participants will be introduced to multivariable control (control of several interacting variables of a physical process) and design strategies for multivariable processes. Finally, the program will introduce some basic concepts in nonlinear control and simple design techniques. Several case studies will be presented to enhance the learning experience. Group design projects will be assigned to ensure that the participants understand the design process. (12 credit hours)