Teaching control with laboratory scale models

An approach to laboratory teaching of control which uses scale models of dynamic systems is presented. The models are selected to illustrate a range of control applications and a variety of forms of dynamical behavior. The scale models are controlled either by continuous-time controllers or digitally using PC-based software. The emphasis is on the fundamentals of control engineering such that the student must perform exercises which make them aware of the instrumentation and modeling aspects of control as well as control system design and implementation. The pedagogic basis for the laboratory use of scale models and how this is linked to conventional lecture-based teaching are described