12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a Dandy Find!, August 12, 2006
This review is from: Microcontroller Based Applied Digital Control (Hardcover)
This is an excellent book, IMO. I am not an experienced control systems engineer, so I can't say that the experienced control systems reader would (or would not for that matter) get allot out of the book, but I can say, it is a good introduction for those that have some background (e.g. An electrical engineer, out of college for several years, that took control systems at some point, and would like to learn how to implement, for example, PID controllers with Microcontrollers - that is my situation).
Ok, so what's in the book? The book starts out with an introduction into the classic blocks that make up a control system, and discusses how the microcontroller fits in. Part of the discussion focuses on why microcontrollers are needed, the requirements and sensors that are used.
The second chapter discussed how one models a system, mainly from a mechanical aspect but also from an electrical, electromechanical, and fluids aspect. This chapter combines theory with practical information that will be needed later in the book. There are some odd sign conventions, but none are too annoying. For example, Hooke's Law is F=-kx. The presentation of translational mechanical systems (springs, dashpots, and mass) the book presents a linear spring as F=ky. The illustration of a spring + dashpot + mass system where Newton's second law are applied make you think to get the signs correct.
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are focused on introducing the Microchip PIC microcontroller; the PIC family, PIC architecture, programming the PIC in the C programming language (The author uses the Hi-Tech PICC Lite - a free download from Hi-Tech). Formal programming concepts including flow charts, structure charts, and pseudo code is discussed although the UML is not (seems like state charts would be nice but this is, after all, a book on control systems, not software engineering). If you already know the PIC, this chapter is a very quick read.
Chapter 6 discusses the z-transform in, in my opinion, an easy to comprehend fashion. The z-transform is paramount to the following chapters as the z-transform is the tool use in the digital domain. The discussion on the x-transform is somewhat terse. The reader should either be well versed in the s-domain and, perhaps, had prior exposure to the z-domain. The book is about applying the concepts, not teaching the concepts for the beginner.
Coupled with chapter 6 is a discussion in chapter 7 of system response in both the s and z-planes. These chapters combine more of the classic control system theory with digital sampling concepts.
What would any book on control systems be without system stability? That is the focus of chapter 8 where the classic tools are covered such as characteristic equations, Jury's stability test, Routh-Hurwitz Criterion, Root Locus, Nyquist Criterion, and Bode plots.
If you are like me and read a book from front to back, chapter 9 is where the reward of your patience is redeemed; the various types of controller designs (Dead-beat, Dahin, and PID). The chapter is not as comprehensive in coverage of controller architectures as say, Franklin, Powell, and Emami-Naeini, "Feedback of Dynamic Systems", but the being the focus of the book is applying the concepts to microcontrollers, you should be better prepared to expound your knowledge with such references.
Chapters 10 and 11 round out the discussion with controller realization and a practical case study; A liquid level digital control system.
In summary, I find this book well worth the money. The author has done a fine job in selecting topics, done a good job relating the material to microcontrollers, and writes in a clear, comprehensive manor. The book is focused on the PIC architecture. I recommend readers also download the PID application notes (there are two - AN937 and AN964 on Microchip's web site to supplement the material).
Well done Dogan Ibrahim!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb Digital Control Text, August 27, 2008
This review is from: Microcontroller Based Applied Digital Control (Hardcover)
Microcontroller Based Applied Digital Control is a well written book. It shows how to design test and implement digital controllers. This book successfully bridges the gap between control theory and actual implementation. This book is very useful for any serious hobbyist, electrical or mechanical engineering student or practicing engineer who is interested in automatic controls.
This book gives practical information on getting a controller to work as it was designed to do. Although software packages such as Lab view and Matlab have the capability to generate code for different microcontroller architectures, through experience the code often has to be `tweaked', augmented and in many cases re-written, furthermore those software packages are expensive for individuals or small design companies.
The book demonstrates how to design controllers using pole placement, the book shows how to design Dead-Beat, Dahlin, Lead Lag, PI and PID controllers. The book also clearly illustrates how to tune the PID compensators using the Zeigler-Nichols algorithm. The book illustrates several ways designed controllers can be realized, as well as explaining the differences in the realizations, in terms of efficiency, accuracy and computation.
Using this text, I have designed a servo system for a .5KW Solar Tracker, and I have also successfully designed a controller for an inverted pendulum.
I have done an extensive literature survey on every book published in the last 12yrs, on embedded control and microcontroller based control and this book is the best book I have seen thus far.
This is a EXCELLENT book I give it 5 Stars!!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very expensive for what little real content you'll get out of it, June 13, 2008
This review is from: Microcontroller Based Applied Digital Control (Hardcover)
Hello,
I have to give this book a fairly poor review, driven by two main issues 1) cost and 2) the real content.
"Microcontroller Based Applied Digital Control" - one would think, and rightfully expect, the content of this book to be focused on "applied" microcontroller based digital control. This book is about digical control with a few short micro based examples at the very end of the book.
When it comes down to it, there are only a few examples that are covered between pages 255-282 (that is less than 30 pages of a 311 page book!). I was very disappointed in the amount of real coverage of this books based on its title. You can get far better coverage just by looking at the apps notes on Microchips web page. I am sure the other vendors of microcontrollers also have similar app notes and examples.
Given my experience with this book vs. the previous '5-star' reviewer I can't help but wonder if that reviewer is completely free of any bias or influence from the author or publisher. The format is a bit odd for a book reviewer, don't you think? In any case, we have such different views for you to consider.
The content that was presented was fairly good and well written. However, the author took so long to get the important applied parts that he ran out of time, pages, or steam to really finish it properly. There are no real exmples mixed in with the chaper upon chaper of theory. It can be quite dry at times.
The author should have been building up microcontroller code as he went along or found some other way to work in microcontrollers in vs. just summarizing the vendor's data sheets. I think it is save to assume if one is interested in topic the reader is capable of pulling a datasheet off the web.
Personally, I would look else ware if you want to learn about this topic. It just will not get you there.
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