Computer-aided automatic control education with a real-time development system

Abstract

This article deals with the development of a real-time digital experimental setup for reinforcement of control education, using available components such as prototyping system and a DC motor module for graduate research activities. The prototyping system called prototyper is a flexible development system to control designs of a real plant without manual programming. The DC motor module is a bench-scale analog system and it was modified to be used as a hardware in the loop (HIL) in the implementation of the experimental setup. The design of PID controllers and the frequency response tests were conducted. It is demonstrated that the design of PID controllers and frequency response tests can easily be conducted on the developed experimental setup. This work aims to train student practically in the education of real-time digital controller in automatic control and mechatronic courses. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 13: 181–191, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20045