PC-based CACSD software-current status

There are at least a dozen commercial offerings of interactive PC-based software for computer-aided control system design (CACSD). The CACSD scene has been totally transformed by these developments. It is now possible for any control engineering team to be well equipped with up to date algorithms at very modest cost, to be able to tailor them to its own requirements, and to interface them easily to other software. One of the most important effects of this has been the rapid transfer of technology from academic research to usable software. After remarking briefly on these general points, the author concentrates on a particular family of products based on PC-Matlab