A Final Year Undergraduate Digital Control Laboratory Assignment

Abstract

This paper describes a positive experience with a digital control assignment used in the BEng in Electronic Engineering course at Dublin City University (DCU). The objective of the assignment is to give the student considerable freedom m tackling a 'real-world problem, involving modelling, control system design and implementation. Support is provided through documentation, a standard hardware/software platform, control system CAD tools and tutorials. The rig used is a fully instrumented coupled tanks apparatus. Completion of the assignment gives students a sense of confidence in tackling other practical, unknown problems, and gives them the sense of being true 'real-world' engineers.