Methodology of Teaching the First Control Course

Szerzők

  • Tibor Vámos
  • Bars Ruth
  • László Keviczky
  • Dávid Sík

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3311/ope.375

Absztrakt

System view, understanding systems and how they are controlled is an important discipline in engineering education. Nowadays considering the ever increasing knowledge, the explosion of information available at the internet, the available visual technics and software tools there is a need to revisit the content and the teaching methodology of the first control course. The IFAC Technical Committee on Control Education (9.4) is circulating a pilot survey addressing these questions. Here we present our experience related to renewing the control course. The topics of the course are given. The main ideas are explained on two levels: hopefully in an understandable way for everyone, and precisely, using mathematical tools. In the lectures some parts of the multilevel e-book, Sysbook are referred, which has been elaborated to present the main principles governing systems and control on different levels. Besides static teaching materials interactive demonstrations developed for Sysbook are also used in the lectures which enhance the effectiveness and also enjoyment of the learning process. At the last part of each lecture the students are active solving problems related to the topic of the lecture. They are motivated by the obtained extra evaluation points. Then the solutions of the problems are discussed. Computer laboratory exercises using MATLAB/SIMULINK software contribute to understanding and applying the analysis and synthesis methods discussed in the lectures. The course is supported by the recently published Springer books: Keviczky et al.: Control Engineering and Control Engineering: MATLAB Exercises. In the content of the control course a new feature is the emphasis of the YOULA parameterization method for controller design already in the first control course and showing that other controller design methods can be considered as its special cases. Nowadays in education a new teaching – learning paradigm is Open Content Development (OCD) which means active participation of the teachers and students creating an up-to-date teaching material. This project runs at the Department of Technical Education at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics since 2015 supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In the frame of vocational teacher training programs several so-called micro-contents have been developed. Utilizing the experiences of these pilot efforts the Sysbook platform has been connected to the OCD model. In a special surface Sysbook provides several case studies for systems and their control (e.g. driving, energy production and distribution, oil refinery, systems and control in the living organism, etc.). Teachers and students studying systems and control can elaborate new case studies in their areas of interest which means active application of the learned topics. After evaluation these projects can be uploaded in the student area of Sysbook. Summarizing: in the methodology of teaching a basic control course the motivation of the students can be increased by active participation in the learning process, including interactive demonstration of the principles, solving exercises at the end of the lectures and getting immediate feedback, solving analysis and synthesis problems in the computer laboratories, and developing their own case studies for Sysbook. It should be also emphasized that the examples of systems and their control should be chosen mainly from the area of the specialization of the students (electrical or software engineering, chemical engineering, biology, economics, etc.). Also it is important to provide real-time experiments in laboratory work or using distant laboratories. IFAC Repository would be also of great help reaching useful resources.

Szerző életrajzok

Tibor Vámos

Tibor Vámos (1926) professor emeritus, Founding director of the Computer and Automation Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Ordinary Member of the Hungarian Academy, Fellow: IEEE, IFAC, ECCAI, more than 200 publications, 4 books, subjects: power systems, system science, pattern recognition, computer epistemology. Several international and national scientific awards. Scientist of the year in the proliferation of Science ( 2005)

Bars Ruth

Ruth Bars graduated at the Electrical Engineering Faculty of the Technical University. Since 1964 she has been working at the Department of Automation and Applied Informatics at TUB, now as honorary professor.

She has got the doctor of the university degree in 1976. In 1992 she has gained the Candidate of Sciences degree of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and PhD degree.

Her research interests are in predictive control and in developing new ways of control education. She has published with co-authors several university lecture notes and textbooks (in 2019 two books in Control engineering, Springer). She has more than 160 publications. In 2011 a book on predictive control has been published by Wiley with coauthors.

She was a visiting lecturer at the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland and at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, USA giving short PhD courses in predictive control. In 2008 she participated in a Marie Curie project related to predictive control at the University of Sevilla.

Between 1996 and 2002 she was the head of the IFAC TC on Optimal Control. From 2002 to 2008 she served IFAC as the head of the Coordinating Committee on Design Methods. In 2008 she has gained the IFAC outstanding service award.

László Keviczky

László KEVICZKY graduated at the Electrical Engineering Faculty of the Technical University of Budapest (TUB) in 1968. He is the Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences where he was the Secretary General, then
the Vice-President. He is a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences.
He is professor emeritus of Department of Automation and Informatics at the TUB and professor emeritus of the Department of Informatics at the Széchenyi University Györ. Research professor at the Institute of Computer 
Science and Control, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
His special fields of interest are system identification and parameter estimation, adaptive optimal control of industrial processes, computer controlled systems, simulation and modeling, intelligent and expert controls, C3I (Control, Communication, Computation, Intelligence.)
He had several positions within IFAC (TB chairman, Council member, Awards, Election and Policy Committee Chairman) and at many Hungarian govermental committees.

Dávid Sík

David Sik is a Computer Science Engineer MSc, Teacher of Engineering (Information Technology) MA, currently a PhD student at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Department of Automation and Applied Informatics. He is also a member of the MTA-BME Open Content Development Research Group. In recent years, he has participated and lectured at numerous domestic and international conferences in both the IT and pedagogical fields. His teaching subjects are: Mobile- and Web-based Software, Business Intelligence, Digital Pedagogy. His main fields of research are: Anomaly detection in telecommunication networks; examining the effectiveness and usefulness of new-generation atypical learning environments and smartphone applications.

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Megjelent

2020-05-13

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