Introduction to Control Systems, Third Edition

Since the second edition of this classic text for students and engineers appeared in 1984, the use of computer-aided design software has become an important adjunct to the study of control system analysis and design. With this in mind the entire text has been recast, enlarged and updated. In addition the scope of the book has been extended so that it is suitable for students of mechanical and electrical engineering, as well as other students of control systems.


Many of the classical analytical and graphical techniques have been retained because of their important conceptual role in understanding control system design, although the use of computer techniques in their application is encouraged and emphasized. The concept of a system S has been highlighted in the text, and various mathematical representations of it by the transfer function and State equation are carefully examined in early chapters. In discussing feedback control, the concept of robustness is introduced as a means of studying the effect of parameter variation upon system performance. Two new chapters on control strategies and plant sizing, and on adaptive control, have been added. The chapters on control system design, discrete time control, and non-linear control systems have been considerably expanded to cover such matters as pole-placement design using state space methods, digital compensators, and Popov stability methods of analysis. Dr D K Anand is both a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, USA. Dr Anand has consulted widely in systems analysis for the US Government and for industry, and is a prominent author on control and engineering subjects. Dr R B Zmood is the Control Discipline Leader in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. He has consulted widely both in Australia and in the USA on the industrial and military applications of control systems.

Dr D K Anand is both a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, USA.