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CONTROL SYSTEMS 2

This chapter covers the most complex topics in the book. Control systems can be very
ornate and difficult to build. They can be built using computers, linear electronics,
mechanical parts, biological parts, or just spit and sticks! But underlying all control sys-
tems is the queen of the sciences—mathematics. Given an understanding of the math,
we can tame any of these types of control systems. In the final analysis, they all behave
the same way, following the same math.
It would be heresy to some to suggest that control systems can be tamed with an under-
standing of just a few equations, but the fact is, the basic mathematical concepts of con-
trol systems can be greatly simplified and made accessible. If you learn the basics, you
can probably extrapolate to other cases using your instinct. That’s our goal in this chapter.
Control systems are everywhere and they come in all shapes and sizes:

The average car has 35 computers in it now, running the engine, the brakes, the
radio, the radar, and so on.
You are a control system of sorts. I can surely rely upon you to turn the page when
my words run off this page to the next. You are very predictable that way and you fol-
low the western standard of page turning, as does every school kid in the country.

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