CHAPTER 10 - OTHER RELATED TYPES OF ANALOGUE COMPUTERS

Abstract

There is a large and important class of simulators that has various features in common like: (1) they are “unity-time-scale” machines; that is, if a particular event in the real dynamic system occupies a time interval T, then the analogous event in the simulator likewise occupies an interval T. Time constants and frequencies of oscillation have the same numerical values in the simulator as in the real system; and (2) they are “d.c.” ”voltage” machines, which means that the analogous quantity in the simulator that corresponds to a variable in the real dynamic system is a voltage whose instantaneous value is proportional to the instantaneous value of the variable. This chapter presents other related types of analogue computers. There are other important classes of simulators that do not share these features. One of the most important class of stimulators includes machines that have time scales different from the time scales of the system being studied, so that an event that occupies an interval T in the real system occupies an interval kT in the simulator, where k is a time-scale factor that may have a value greater or less than unity.