Teaching Mathematics to Control Engineers [Focus on Education]

How can mathematics courses be taught so as to be more effective for the training of control engineers? Without doubt, the range of mathematical techniques relevant to at least one branch of control engineering is large and includes multivariable calculus, ordinary and partial differential equations, real and complex analysis, linear algebra, multivariable statistics, convex optimization, functional analysis, and differential geometry. To be effective in applications, a control engineer should also be versed in at least one other engineering discipline (such as electrical, mechanical, or aeronautical) as an understanding of a system is required before an effective control system can be designed. A control engineer should also be trained in systems and control problems and techniques, such as model identification, experimental design, fault detection and diagnosis, dynamic optimization, model predictive control, robust control, and nonlinear control. Collectively, the number of courses needed to cover all of these topics would be too high to fit into one curriculum, or even two curricula, which means that most control engineers take courses in only some of these topics.