Round Table I - CAD in Education and Control Laboratories

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on control engineering courses and laboratories that are associated with undergraduate and postgraduate work at bachelors and masters levels in the Engineering Department at Cambridge University. At the undergraduate level, students are only exposed to computer-aided design (CAD) and microprocessor experiments in association with projects. The main interactive CAD facilities are those available to the Cambridge Control Research Group through the U.K. Science and Engineering Research Council's computing network. One node of this network, in the form of a GEC 4090 computer, is located in the Control Group's laboratory in Cambridge. When interactive terminals and displays are used in lectures, as at masters' level, they can give a vivid and interesting illustration of important basic concepts, for example, the effect of sampling rate on a digital control loop. Such facilities can also enable students to quickly build up experience and understanding by intensive study of a range of realistic systems. There is no doubt about the value and future potential of CAD in engineering education.