Chapter 1

Control concepts: a non-mathematical

introduction

1.1

General systems ideas

The objects under study in control theory are systems. A system is any set of elements
connected together by information links within some delineated system boundaries.
Referring to Figure 1.1, note that the system boundary is not a physical boundary
but rather a convenient fictional device. Note also how information links may pass
through the system boundary.

element

Figure 1.1

The structure of a system

Controltheory

Since control theory deals with structural properties, it requires system representations that have been stripped of all detail, until the main property that remains is
that of connectedness. (The masterly map of the London Underground system is an
everyday example of how useful a representation can be when it has been stripped of
all properties except that of connectedness.)
Connectedness is a concept from topology. Topology, the discipline that studies
the underlying structure of mathematics, offers fascinating reading to aspiring systems
theorists. Recommended reading is given in the Bibliography. Clearly, a system
is a very general concept; control theory is most interested in certain classes of
system and to make progress we delineate the classes. First it is interested in dynamic
systems - these are systems whose behaviour over a time period is of interest. Thus
if a system were concerned with population aspects, a similar dynamic system would
be concerned with population growth.
Secondly, it is most interested in and most powerful when dealing with linear systems. A linear system is characterised by the property shown in Figure 1.2. The upper
part of the figure shows a system's response to some arbitrary stimulus. The lower
part shows how, in the presence oflinearity, the response to a scaled-up version of the
stimulus is simply a scaled-up version of the previous response, with proportionality
being preserved.
Finally, it is interested in feedback systems - these are systems where information
flows in one or more loops, so that part of the information entering an element may
be information that previously left that element (Figure 1.3).
Systems are often visualised in the form of block diagrams, illustrating the main
functions, their supposed interconnection and (possibly) their interconnection to the
environment of the system. Thus, a simple representation of the human temperature
regulation system might be as shown in Figure 1.4.

magnitude

magnitude
stimulus to
system

linear
system

systems
response

time

time
magnitude
stimulus as above
but magnified

Figure 1.2

magnitude
linear
system

Linear system characteristics

response is as above
but magnifiedk times

Control concepts

system
boundary

Figure 1.3

A simple feedback system

environment

Figure 1.4

A simple representation of the human temperature regulation system

1.2 What is control theory? - an initial discussion

Many areas of study are fortunate in that their titles trigger an immediate image
of their scope and content. For instance, the names 'human anatomy', 'veterinary
medicine', 'aeronautical engineering' and 'ancient history' all conjure up coherent
visions of well-defined subjects. This is not so for control theory although almost
everyone is interested in control in the sense ofbeing able to achieve defined objectives
within some time frame. Rather specific examples occur in the named professions of
'financial controller' and 'production controller'.

Control theory

Control theory applies to everyday situations, as in the examples given above, just
as well as it applies to the more exotic task ofmanoeuvring space vehicles. In fact, the
concepts of control theory are simple and application-independent. The universality
of control theory means that it is best considered as applied to an abstract situation
that contains only the topological core possessed by all situations that need to be
controlled. Such an abstract situation is called a system.
The argument is that if we know how to control a highly general situation called
a system then we shall be able to control any and every particular situation. This is the
viewpoint of control theory and it is this viewpoint that gives it its extraordinary power.
Thus any situation, delineated from its environment for study, is called a system.
When control theory wishes to study temperature regulation in the human body, it
concems itself with a system involving blood circulation, heat generation and heat
loss mechanisms and decision-making by the brain. Systems can usefully be defined
in almost any discipline - they are not confined to science or engineering.
Control theory concems itself with means by which to alter the future behaviour of
systems. For control theory to be successfully applied, there needs to be available:
(i)

(ii)

(iii)

A purpose or objective that is linked with the future state of the system. (Clearly
the past cannot be influenced nor, since no response can take place in any system
in zero time, can the present.)
The objective of any control system in every case is connected with the
performance of the system over some period of time - the accountant and the
industrial manager want to see long periods of smooth and profitable operation.
Sometimes this leads to conflicting requirements, in the sense that short term
objectives are frequently in direct opposition to long term objectives. In general
terms this objective can be considered to be the desired behaviour of the system.
A set of possible actions that offers an element of choice. (If no variation of
actions is possible, control cannot be exercised and the system will follow
a course that cannot be modified.)
(Unless a trial and error strategy is to be adopted) some means of choosing the
correct actions (ii) that will result in the desired behaviour (i) being produced.
In general terms, this requirement is met by a model capable of predicting
the effect of control actions on the system state. Such a model may be implicit
and not even recognised as a model or it may consist of a large and complex
set of equations.
For the accountant, the model is a balance sheet together with inherited
wisdom. For the military commander, the model is a map of local terrain and
a knowledge of the types and deployments of men and equipment. For the
control of quantities that can be measured by sensors, mathematical models in
the form of stored curves or sets of equations will usually be used.

We see then that to achieve successful control we must have a defined objective
and be able to predict adequately, over some sufficient time scale, all the outcomes of
all the actions that are open to us. For instance, a national power station building programme can only be planned once predictions of the future demand for
electricity are available. Figure 1.5 summarises the three requirements needed for
successful control.

Control concepts

~J

ity t o ~
te and
)
actions
/

~
[
I
\

Figure 1.5

,ii2

t
a c t ~
or to make
modificationsthat when applied
)
to the system will result in the
/
desired behaviour(i) being obtained /

The three elements needed for successful control design

A major problem in control using a long term horizon is uncertainty of the long
term accuracy of models, compounded by the likelihood of unforeseen events. That
is to say, the possibility must be faced that, once uncertainty rises above a particular
level, no meaningful control can be implemented and that policies that look ahead to
anticipate future contingencies may call for immediate sacrifices that will never be
repaid by the creation of more favourable future environments.
Feedback control, in which an error initiates corrective action, can be used only
where corrective actions take effect relatively quickly. It is clearly unsatisfactory
to wait until electricity demand exceeds the maximum possible supply level before
starting to build a new power station. On the other hand, it is usually perfectly feasible
to control the speed of a motor by an error-driven feedback correction.
None of the processes that we are called upon to control can be made to change
its state instantaneously. This is because all processes have the equivalent of inertia.
Suppose that we have the task of moving a large spherical boulder from A to B by
brute force (Figure 1.6).
Clearly, considerable initial effort must be expended to get the boulder rolling
and a similar effort must be expended to bring it to rest. In the case illustrated, it
will be all too easy to overshoot the target or to spend too long arriving there if any
miscalculation is made. The difficulty of achieving control in this situation is entirely
typical and occurs because of the energy that needs to be stored in and then removed
from the boulder to allow the task to be achieved. Only when we possess a prior

Controltheory
initial position of boulder

required final position of boulder

Figure 1.6

The problem of moving the boulder

quantitative knowledge of the energy storage mechanism can we hope to achieve fast
and accurate control.
A system with internal energy storage is called a dynamic system. Thus, we can
see that one of our chief problems is to synthesise actions that, when applied to
a dynamic system, will produce the response that we are seeking.

1.3

W h a t is automatic control?

Control theory was developed to support the emergent activity of automatic control. It
is therefore a useful motivation to turn our attention to automatic control. Historically,
the discipline of automatic control was concerned with the replacement of the human
worker of Figure 1.7 by the automatic controller of Figure 1.8.
Although automatic control is nowadays a complex discipline, no longer primarily concerned with the replacement of human operators, it is a useful starting point
to consider what sort of skills are necessary to move from an existing, manually
controlled situation to a new automatically controlled situation, as in Figure 1.8.
(1)

(2)
(3)

A central idea of control theory is the control loop. All control loops have the
same basic form, regardless of the particular application area. Thus, control
theory uses an application-independent notation to convert all control problems
into the same standard problem. We can consider that control theory concentrates
on studying the universal situations that underlie all applications of quantitative
control.
In broadest form a control loop appears as in Figure 1.9. The decisions
govern actions that are taken. The effect of the actions is reported back by the
information channel. Further decisions are taken and the loop operates continuously as described. A control loop provides an extraordinarily powerful means
of control but, at the same time, the existence of the loop always brings the
possibility of the potentially very destructive phenomenon of instability.
All control loops are error-driven, where error is defined as the difference
between the behaviour that is desired and the behaviour that is measured.
An important performance measure for a control system relates to rate of error
reduction. Often, performance is quoted in terms of the highest frequency that
the control system can follow, when required to do so.

Control concepts
systemto be controlled

(factoryprocess
aircraft
ship
military hardware
consumerdevice)
levers of
power

measured
behaviour
process
operator

Figure 1.7

A manually controlledprocess

automatic
controller

process
supervisor

systemto be
controller

measured
behaviour

Figure 1.8

The process of Figure 1.7 now under automatic control

actions

decision

information on
result o f actions

Figure 1.9

A control loop in its broadest form

Control theory

(4) All control loops tend to become unstable as higher and higher performance is
sought. A good understanding of the topic of stability is central to understanding
control theory.

1.4

Some examples of control systems

Four control systems are illustrated in Figure 1.10. All can be seen to have the form
of Figure 1.11. A user, uninterested in the mechanics of all this, will see the simpler
view of Figure 1.12. We refer to this single block (that has the control loop hidden
inside) as the control system.
The following further points are important:
(5)

Control system performance can only be meaningfully specified in relation to

the (total) control system of Figure 1.12.

desired
inflation
rate ?

interest rate
/

central bank

]
economy [

steam flow
desired
~
speed " ~

desired
temperature inside
building ~

Governor

"

[
]

steam ]
engine ]

hot water flow

radiators
and
building

heating
controller

measured
inflation
rate -~

measured
speed

measured
temperature inside
building

movementof
control surfaces
desired
aircraft
heading

Figure 1.10

automatic
pilot

aircraft

Some examples of particular control applications

measured
aircraft
heading

Control concepts

comparison
\
error
decision

.ction 1system
r-

to be
I controlled [

measured
behaviour

information
11

Figure 1.11

The general form ofall the control systems in Figure 1.10

desired
behaviour

Figure 1.12

measured
behaviour

A user's view of the control system of Figure 1.11

(6)

The control system designer almost always has to incorporate into the control
loop an element whose intrinsic behaviour is largely outside his own influence.
(For instance, the control systems designer may have little influence on the
design of a building although later he will be called upon to design temperature
control systems for it.)
(7) To quite a large extent, the controller must neutralise adverse characteristics in
the process, compensating for non-ideal process configurations and for short
and long term perturbations and variabilities.
(8) For (7) to be possible, the process characteristics must be known to some degree
of accuracy and be reasonably constant.
(9) Ideally [see (6)] the control system designer will ensure that the process has the
best possible inherent behaviour, even with no control. The control design cycle
is therefore roughly:
(a) Decide on a necessary performance specification.
(b) Quantify the performance of any system-to-be-controlled element that is to
be included in the control loop.
(c) Design, by one or other control design techniques, a controller so that the
control system meets the specification of (a).
(d) Construct, commission and test the control system.
In the next chapter, we take these ideas further.