Experiments for the undergraduate control laboratory

An introductory control laboratory is presented. This paper describes our experiences in developing and teaching such a course to seniors in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech). The course, entitled "Automatic Control Laboratory," is organized around consideration of principles of control systems. The emphasis in the laboratory experiments is on plant identification, open loop and closed loop characteristics, effect of damping and design and implementation of PID control schemes. The topics introduced in the course ELCE 424 Automatic control such as introduction to control systems, time domain analysis, control system characteristics and performance of feedback control, complement the laboratory course.