An undergraduate system identification experiment

One of the essential objectives of any undergraduate controls curriculum is understanding the frequency response, its physical meaning, and stability consequences. In addition, the student should gain an appreciation for simple system identification techniques, and the relationship between frequency response and the system complex plane pole-zero map. These skills allow the student to analyze "black box" systems. With these objectives in mind, the authors have developed a system identification experiment using commercially available physical plants and digital computer controllers. This paper outlines the present course background, lesson objectives, data collection and reduction techniques for a system identification laboratory taught in the introductory system dynamics course in the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering programs at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.