Controller tuning via performance maps

While there are a number of visual methods common to the design and analysis of dynamic systems, they tend to be specific to their application and limited in the amount of information which they yield. This paper explores a visualization technique, titled the performance map, which is derived from the Julia set commonly used in the visualization of iterative chaos. Performance maps are generated via digital computation, and require a minimum of a priori knowledge of the system under evaluation. By the use of colour-coding, these images convey a wealth of information to the informed user about dynamic behaviours of a system that may be hidden from all but the expert analyst. Application to the tuning of PI controllers is presented. User friendly software makes the application to tuning easy and allows the user to visually inspect any number of potential solutions. The software will be made available upon request.