Control engineering
[2] Modern day control engineering is a relatively new field of study that gained significant attention during the 20th century with the advancement of technology.
A system can be mechanical, electrical, fluid, chemical, financial or biological, and its mathematical modelling, analysis and controller design uses control theory in one or many of the time, frequency and complex-s domains, depending on the nature of the design problem.
Electrical circuits, digital signal processors and microcontrollers can all be used to implement control systems.
For example, in an automobile with cruise control the vehicle's speed is continuously monitored and fed back to the system, which adjusts the motor's torque accordingly.
A classic example of open loop control is a washing machine that runs through a pre-determined cycle without the use of sensors.
The first feedback control device on record is thought to be the ancient Ktesibios's water clock in Alexandria, Egypt, around the third century BCE.
[3]: 22 This certainly was a successful device as water clocks of similar design were still being made in Baghdad when the Mongols captured the city in 1258 CE.
New mathematical techniques, as well as advances in electronic and computer technologies, made it possible to control significantly more complex dynamical systems than the original flyball governor could stabilize.
David Quinn Mayne, (1930–2024) was among the early developers of a rigorous mathematical method for analysing Model predictive control algorithms (MPC).
MPC's major strength is its capacity to deal with nonlinearities and hard constraints in a simple and intuitive fashion.
His work underpins a class of algorithms that are provably correct, heuristically explainable, and yield control system designs which meet practically important objectives.
The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the application of system inputs to drive the system to a desired state, while minimizing any delay, overshoot, or steady-state error and ensuring a level of control stability; often with the aim to achieve a degree of optimality.
Control theory dates from the 19th century, when the theoretical basis for the operation of governors was first described by James Clerk Maxwell.
[11] Control engineering has diversified applications that include science, finance management, and even human behavior.
Some places that hire Control Engineers include companies such as Rockwell Automation, NASA, Ford, Phillips 66, Eastman, and Goodrich.
[14] Process Control Engineers, typically found in Refineries and Specialty Chemical plants, can earn upwards of $90k annually.
[citation needed] In India, control System Engineering is provided at different levels with a diploma, graduation and postgraduation.
These programs require the candidate to have chosen physics, chemistry and mathematics for their secondary schooling or relevant bachelor's degree for postgraduate studies.
[16][17] Resilient control systems extend the traditional focus of addressing only planned disturbances to frameworks and attempt to address multiple types of unexpected disturbance; in particular, adapting and transforming behaviors of the control system in response to malicious actors, abnormal failure modes, undesirable human action, etc.
