1- The beginning of control from Maxwell's work on the governor, mathematical analysis of governor instability and the roots on the right side of the imaginary axis
2- Linear control (it is slightly linear around the working point)
3- Laplace methods
4- Modern control (State Space)
5- Optimal linear control
6- Digital control (Z transforms instead of Laplace and repeat the previous methods)
7- Adaptive control
8- Nonlinear control
9- robust control
10- Control in the presence of delay
11- Identification of linear and non-linear systems
12- Fuzzy industrial control (PID control -cascade control).
13- Important points of control (stability - achieving control targets - speed of control)
Question: Can all these topics be summarized in one general discussion?
picture refrence: https://engineeringmedia.com/map-of-control
That's a challenging question. I almost dare not answer. But, I want to try.....
Each of these topics is a vast field in of itself and they all contribute to our understanding and application of control systems engineering. There are also some other important items, such as physics-based modelling, which are missing from the list.
Together, these topics cover a fascinating and wide range of concepts and techniques in the field of control engineering, from the classical to the modern approaches.
Studying them can help us see how control theory has evolved over time to address different challenges and applications, using such concepts as absolute (and relative) stability, optimality, adaptability, robustness and tools developed for very non-linear and/or time delayed systems.
Despite their variety and number, the topics are not unrelated or disjointed. In fact, they can be seen as different but overlapping perspectives/approaches to the problem of control design OR complementary frameworks which allow engineers to design and analyse control systems, using a variety of mathematical tools and assumptions.
Some of the approaches are more general than others, and some of them are more suitable for certain types of systems or problems. This field of engineering is like magic to me! I enjoy it tremendously and I have been lucky enough to be able to make a career out of applying, researching and teaching control system engineering.
The field continues to develop and evolve and has perhaps never been quite as important and relevant as it is today! I hope some of the future generation of engineers read this answer, your question and the poster and can be enticed to join us in the magical and revolutionary field of control systems engineering!
My dream is that the science of control will achieve such power and precision that we can witness the control of an airplane at the level of a swallow's flight.
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