Sourcebook Of Control Systems Engineering

This book joins the multitude of Control Systems books now available, but is neither a textbook nor a monograph. Rather it may be described as a resource book or survey of the elements/essentials of feedback control systems. The material included is a result of my development, over a period of several years, of summaries written to supplement a number of standard textbooks for undergraduate and early post-graduate courses. Those notes, plus more work than I care right now to contemplate, are intended to be helpful both to students and to professional engineers. Too often, standard textbooks seem to overlook some of the engineering realities of (roughly) how much things cost or how big of hardware for computer programs for simple algorithms are, sensing and actuation, of special systems such as PLCs and PID controllers, of the engineering of real systems from coverage of SISO theories, and of the special characteristics of computers, their programming, and their potential interactions into systems. In particular, students with specializations other than control systems are not being exposed to the breadth of the considerations needed in control systems engineering, perhaps because it is assumed that they are always to be part of a multicourse sequence taken by specialists. The lectures given to introduce at least some of these aspects were more effective when supported by written material: hence, the need for my notes which preceded this book.

It is an ideal source of refresher material for practising control engineers, as well as being a useful additional text for students interested in all aspects of control engineering. The subject content is wide ranging, interesting and thorough, while the style of writing makes the book very readable...I have little hesitation in recommending this book to higher education lecturers, practising control engineers and especially to undergraduates and postgraduates interested in control systems engineering - Measurement and Control