Observers in Control Systems : A Practical Guide

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Summary: Ellis is the great communicator for control engineers
Review: As he did with his Control System Design Guide, George Ellis has managed to take a key concept, the observer, and explain it in terms that the average, practicing, control engineer can understand, and better yet: Apply. If you believe that all you need to know can be desribed in classical control terms, then this book is for you. If you shun anything that refers to "modern control theory," or "state space" then this book is for you. If you've always wanted to apply principles of modern control theory, but never figured out how to reduce it to practice, then this book is for you. If you're frustrated by the fact that you're colleagues eyes glaze over when you talk about "State Estimators," then this book is for you. Or if you simply want to be the control engineer that takes one or more of your best control loops up another notch in performance, then this book is for you. In this book, George Ellis explains, in simple control terms, what an observer is and how it can be applied. Ellis, provides plenty of information for you to asses the risk/benefit of applying observers to a process, e.g., how good must your process/sensor model be for the observer to be effective (You'll be surprised at how robust they are). Finally, Ellis provides many ready-to-run simulation examples, written in Visual Model-Q, a very powerful control system modeling environment. Visual Model-Q is in turn available to download at a great price: free!

Rating:
Summary: practical observers
Review: Observers in Control Systems is a practical guide to observers, and is especially oriented towards motion control.

The author is a respected expert in the motion control industry, and he brings much experience to this difficult topic, presenting it in a clear and direct format. The author presents complex topics in a simple to understand fromat, and avoids the often overly complex math found in the traditional academic oriented texbooks.

This book has two novel features. The first is the author's use of the traditional signal flow diagrams and frequency analysis based approach to explaining observer theory. This approach makes these concepts much easier to understand, and avoids the complex and elaborate linear algebra required by other observer textbooks.

The second feature is the use of the dreadily ownloadable simulation program, ModelQ. ModelQ is a graphical simulation, modeling and analysis program that helps illustrate observer concepts. This software contributes greatly to the reader's understanding. Numerous examples are included to help illuminate various observer topics.

This book's practical and "hands-on" style makes it a must-have addition to your control textbook toolbox. You will be able to apply the techniques presented in this book to improve your control system designs.