What is control system?

" One of the most commonly asked questions by a novice on a control system is: What is

a control system? To answer the question, we can say that in our daily lives there are

numerous "objectives" that need to be accomplished. For instance, in the domestic

domain, we need to regulate the temperature and humidity of homes and buildings for

comfortable living. For transportation, we need to control the automobile and airplane to go

from one point to another accurately and safely. Industrially, manufacturing processes

contain numerous objectives for products that will satisfy the precision and cost-effectiveness

requirements. A human being is capable of performing a wide range of

tasks, including decision making. Some of these tasks, such as picking up objects and

walking from one point to another, are commonly carried out in a routine fashion. Under

certain conditions, some of these tasks are to be performed in the best possible way. For

instance, an athlete running a 100-yard dash has the objective of running that distance in the

shortest possible time. A marathon runner, on the other hand, not only must run the distance

as quickly as possible but, in doing so, he or she must control the consumption of energy

and devise the best strategy for the race. The means of achieving these "objectives" usually

involve the use of control systems that implement certain control strategies.

In recent years, control systems have assumed an increasingly important role in the

development and advancement of modern civilization and technology. Practically every

aspect of our day-to-day activities is affected by some type of control system. Control

systems are found in abundance in all sectors of industry, such as quality control of

manufactured products, automatic assembly lines, machine-tool control, space technology, and weapon

 systems, computer control, transportation systems, power systems, robotics,

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), nanotechnology, and many others. Even the

control of inventory and social and economic systems may be approached from the theory

of automatic control" [1].

1- FARID GOLNARAGHI, BENJAMIN C. KUO