The impact of IEC (6)1131-3 on the teaching of control engineering

Graduates need to possess a balance of practical skills and theoretical knowledge. Within control engineering students must learn the basic principles of feedback system stability but also how to design, install and tune a practical control loop. The correct balance between principles, theory and technology is sometimes difficult to achieve. Education which is centred on particular equipment cannot give the breadth of exposure required. Further, when using a certain manufacturer´s hardware or software, there is a danger that the exercise becomes simply training rather than broader based education. The paper looks at the teaching of traditional control engineering in further and higher education and examines the impact that IEC (6)1131-3 can have. An approach in which IEC (6)1131-3 compliant programming software is used with realistic simulations of a plant is described. This approach has been found to have many benefits for teaching and also for practising instrumentation and control engineers