Wilkerson,, S. A., & Gadsden, S. A., & Lee, A. (2023, June), Developing Experiments to Teach Control Theory  Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43078

\bibitem{asee_peer_43078}
  Wilkerson,, S. A., \& Gadsden, S. A., \& Lee, A. (2023, June), \emph{Developing Experiments to Teach Control Theory}
  Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland.
  10.18260/1-2--43078

Stephen Andrew Wilkerson, P.E., Stephen Andrew Gadsden, and Andrew Lee.  "Developing Experiments to Teach Control Theory".  2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2023.  https://peer.asee.org/43078 Internet.  14 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_43078}
  Stephen Andrew Wilkerson, P.E., Stephen Andrew Gadsden, and Andrew Lee.
  "Developing Experiments to Teach Control Theory".
  \emph{2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2023.
  https://peer.asee.org/43078 Internet.  14 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_43078
author = "Stephen Andrew Wilkerson, P.E., Stephen Andrew Gadsden, and Andrew Lee"
title = "Developing Experiments to Teach Control Theory"
booktitle = "2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2023"
month = "June"
address = "Baltimore , Maryland"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/43078}
number = {10.18260/1-2--43078}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Developing Experiments to Teach Control Theory
by
Stephen Wilkerson York College of Pennsylvania 
Andrew Gadsden McMaster University
Andrew Lee University of Guelph


This paper presents two Project Based Learning (PBL) control experiments that are low cost and non-proprietary.   Moreover, both of these projects can be built by the students for under one hundred dollars in a short amount of time.  Nonetheless, the development of these devices was not without difficulties. This is probably why many classes still do not include homemade control experiments or when they do the experiment becomes problematic.   This paper provides an outline of two control experimental devices and a discussion of where the difficulties occurred in developing them.  Sufficient details are provided herein to allow others to replicate the PBL experiments, minus the problems, and to expand on what is presented in this limited offering.  The use of these devices has undergone an evolution over the past three years, and the paper include details of the projects use, benefits, and drawbacks.  Finally, the paper provides observations of student learning from several semesters of use with recommendations for the future.  

It was observed that developing control laws for a particular system can be confusing for many students. More often than not they don’t know where to start.  Not surprisingly, to facilitate a more complete understanding of control theory many classes include some hands-on experiments with various devices.  Unfortunately, these experiments often require the learning of new software and hardware like LabView  and their products to create the control law. Moreover, the hardware and software requirements, not to mention the expenses, can detract from the purpose originally intended.  Not surprisingly, the process of learning new unrelated materials can result in students not fully understanding how to control even the simplest of systems without the use of proprietary equipment and software.  Fortunately, most engineering and computer science curriculums include work with microprocessors like the Arduino and programming in C or with MATLAB . This enabled the opportunity to develop some limited experiments for use in classes.  This paper presents two experiments that have been continually improved and redesigned over the past several years.  

  Labview is a product of National Instruments Corp: https://www.ni.com/en-us/shop/labview.html 
  MATLAB is the trade mark of Mathworks: https://www.mathworks.com/products/MATLAB.html 

AU  - Stephen Andrew Wilkerson, P.E.
AU  - Stephen Andrew Gadsden
AU  - Andrew Lee
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Developing Experiments to Teach Control Theory
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/43078
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--43078
ER  -