A demonstration circuit to support (e-)learning on control systems engineering

Concepts of Control Systems are important as they are present in the operation of a broad set of systems in all engineering branches. Sustainability issues have led to an intensive use of these concepts on systems. However teaching / learning of Control Systems Engineering has always been a difficult subject not only for the underlying theoretical part, but also for the few examples that are traditionally possible to illustrate in laboratory classes. Shortcomings are revealed at a later time when students have to understand subjects that include stabilization mechanisms or even when they need to develop control solutions based on digital technology, such microcontrollers. The present work presents a circuit based on analog electronics that was designed to carry out local laboratory experiments. The circuit is designed to create evidence for the student and allows the comparison of the values obtained experimentally with those expected theoretically. The requirements were included in the project to allow experiments to be performed remotely when integrated into an appropriate platform.