Control system analysis with Mathematica

It is shown that the linkage between Mathematica and MATLAB allows the graphical user interface of the associated simulation software SIMULINK to be used as a graphical user interface for Mathematica. This facility for defining the dynamic system models to be analysed by Mathematica has several significant advantages. In particular, the models are constructed by means of a comprehensive and well-developed graphical interface familiar to the control engineer, and the results of analysis obtained with Mathematica can be compared directly with the results of simulation obtained with SIMULINK. A Mathematica-based toolbox for the analysis and design of linear control systems is then described. It is shown that both continuous and digital systems may be analysed by Laplace- and z-transforms and that familiar tools such as root locus-and frequency response-diagrams are also available. Finally, an application of Mathematica to the analysis of nonlinear systems by means of multidimensional transforms is described, and results presented which by manual methods would take an inordinate amount of time to obtain