CHAPTER

1
Introduction to Digital
Control
Objectives
After completing this chapter, the reader will be able to do the following:
1. Explain the reasons for the popularity of digital control systems.
2. Draw a block diagram for digital control of a given analog control system.
3. Explain the structure and components of a typical digital control system.
In most modern engineering systems, there is a need to control the evolution with
time of one or more of the system variables. Controllers are required to ensure
satisfactory transient and steady-state behavior for these engineering systems. To
guarantee satisfactory performance in the presence of disturbances and model
uncertainty, most controllers in use today employ some form of negative feedback.
A sensor is needed to measure the controlled variable and compare its behavior
to a reference signal. Control action is based on an error signal dened as the
difference between the reference and the actual values.
The controller that manipulates the error signal to determine the desired control
action has classically been an analog system, which includes electrical, uid, pneu-
matic, or mechanical components. These systems all have analog inputs and outputs
(i.e., their input and output signals are dened over a continuous time interval and
have values that are dened over a continuous range of amplitudes). In the past few
decades, analog controllers have often been replaced by digital controllers whose
inputs and outputs are dened at discrete time instances. The digital controllers are
in the form of digital circuits, digital computers, or microprocessors.
Intuitively, one would think that controllers that continuously monitor the
output of a system would be superior to those that base their control on sampled
values of the output. It would seem that control variables (controller outputs) that
change continuously would achieve better control than those that change peri-
odically. This is in fact true! Had all other factors been identical for digital and
analog control, analog control would be superior to digital control. What then is
the reason behind the change from analog to digital that has occurred over the
past few decades?
2 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Digital Control
1.1 WHY DIGITAL CONTROL?
Digital control offers distinct advantages over analog control that explain its
popularity. Here are some of its many advantages:
Accuracy. Digital signals are represented in terms of zeros and ones with typically
12 bits or more to represent a single number. This involves a very small error
as compared to analog signals where noise and power supply drift are always
present.
Implementation errors. Digital processing of control signals involves addi-
tion and multiplication by stored numerical values. The errors that result
from digital representation and arithmetic are negligible. By contrast, the
processing of analog signals is performed using components such as resistors
and capacitors with actual values that vary signicantly from the nominal
design values.
Flexibility. An analog controller is difcult to modify or redesign once implemen-
ted in hardware. A digital controller is implemented in rmware or software,
and its modication is possible without a complete replacement of the original
controller. Furthermore, the structure of the digital controller need not follow
one of the simple forms that are typically used in analog control. More complex
controller structures involve a few extra arithmetic operations and are easily
realizable.
Speed. The speed of computer hardware has increased exponentially since the
1980s. This increase in processing speed has made it possible to sample and
process control signals at very high speeds. Because the interval between
samples, the sampling period, can be made very small, digital controllers
achieve performance that is essentially the same as that based on continuous
monitoring of the controlled variable.
Cost. Although the prices of most goods and services have steadily increased, the
cost of digital circuitry continues to decrease. Advances in very large scale
integration (VLSI) technology have made it possible to manufacture better,
faster, and more reliable integrated circuits and to offer them to the consumer
at a lower price. This has made the use of digital controllers more economical
even for small, low-cost applications.
1.2 THE STRUCTURE OF A DIGITAL CONTROL SYSTEM
To control a physical system or process using a digital controller, the controller
must receive measurements from the system, process them, and then send
control signals to the actuator that effects the control action. In almost all applica-
tions, both the plant and the actuator are analog systems. This is a situation
1.3 Examples of Digital Control Systems 3
where the controller and the controlled do not speak the same language and
some form of translation is required. The translation from controller language
(digital) to physical process language (analog) is performed by a digital-to-analog
converter, or DAC. The translation from process language to digital controller
language is performed by an analog-to-digital converter, or ADC. A sensor is
needed to monitor the controlled variable for feedback control. The combination
of the elements discussed here in a control loop is shown in Figure 1.1. Variations
on this control conguration are possible. For example, the system could have
several reference inputs and controlled variables, each with a loop similar to that
of Figure 1.1. The system could also include an inner loop with digital or analog
control.
1.3 EXAMPLES OF DIGITAL CONTROL SYSTEMS
In this section, we briey discuss examples of control systems where digital imple-
mentation is now the norm. There are many other examples of industrial pro-
cesses that are digitally controlled, and the reader is encouraged to seek other
examples from the literature.
1.3.1 Closed-Loop Drug Delivery System
Several chronic diseases require the regulation of the patients blood levels of a
specic drug or hormone. For example, some diseases involve the failure of the
bodys natural closed-loop control of blood levels of nutrients. Most prominent
among these is the disease diabetes, where the production of the hormone insulin
that controls blood glucose levels is impaired.
To design a closed-loop drug delivery system, a sensor is utilized to measure
the levels of the regulated drug or nutrient in the blood. This measurement is
converted to digital form and fed to the control computer, which drives a pump
that injects the drug into the patients blood. A block diagram of the drug delivery
system is shown in Figure 1.2. Refer to Carson and Deutsch (1992) for a more
detailed example of a drug delivery system.
FIGURE 1.1
Conguration of a digital control system.
Controlled
Variable
Reference
Input
Computer DAC
ADC
Actuator
and Process
Sensor
4 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Digital Control
1.3.2 Computer Control of an Aircraft Turbojet Engine
To achieve the high performance required for todays aircraft, turbojet engines
employ sophisticated computer control strategies. A simplied block diagram for
turbojet computer control is shown in Figure 1.3. The control requires feedback
of the engine state (speed, temperature, and pressure), measurements of the air-
craft state (speed and direction), and pilot command.
1.3.3 Control of a Robotic Manipulator
Robotic manipulators are capable of performing repetitive tasks at speeds and
accuracies that far exceed those of human operators. They are now widely used
in manufacturing processes such as spot welding and painting. To perform their
tasks accurately and reliably, manipulator hand (or end-effector) positions and
velocities are controlled digitally. Each motion or degree of freedom (D.O.F.) of
the manipulator is positioned using a separate position control system. All the
FIGURE 1.2
Drug delivery digital control system. (a) Schematic of a drug delivery system. (b) Block diagram
of a drug delivery system.
(a)
(b)
Drug Tank
Computer
Drug
Pump
Blood
Sensor
Reference
Blood
Level
Computer DAC
Drug
Pump
Patient
ADC
Blood
Sensor
Regulated
Drug
or Nutrient
Regulated
Drug
or Nutrient
1.3 Examples of Digital Control Systems 5
motions are coordinated by a supervisory computer to achieve the desired speed
and positioning of the end-effector. The computer also provides an interface
between the robot and the operator that allows programming the lower-level
controllers and directing their actions. The control algorithms are downloaded
from the supervisory computer to the control computers, which are typically
specialized microprocessors known as digital signal processing (DSP) chips. The
DSP chips execute the control algorithms and provide closed-loop control for the
manipulator. A simple robotic manipulator is shown in Figure 1.4a, and a block
diagram of its digital control system is shown in Figure 1.4b. For simplicity, only
one motion control loop is shown in Figure 1.4, but there are actually n loops for
an n-D.O.F. manipulator.
FIGURE 1.3
Turbojet engine control system. (a) F-22 military ghter aircraft. (b) Block diagram of an engine
control system.
(a)
(b)
Pilot
Command
Computer DAC
Turbojet
Engine
Aircraft
ADC
Engine
Sensors
Engine
State
ADC
Aircraft
Sensors
Aircraft
State
6 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Digital Control
RESOURCES
Carson, E. R., and T. Deutsch, A spectrum of approaches for controlling diabetes, Control
Syst. Mag., 12(6):25-31, 1992.
Chen, C. T., Analog and Digital Control System Design, SaundersHBJ, 1993.
Koivo, A. J., Fundamentals for Control of Robotic Manipulators, Wiley, 1989.
Shaffer, P. L., A multiprocessor implementation of a real-time control of turbojet engine,
Control Syst. Mag., 10(4):38-42, 1990.
FIGURE 1.4
Robotic manipulator control system. (a) 3-D.O.F. robotic manipulator. (b) Block diagram of a
manipulator control system.
(a)
(b)
Reference
Trajectory
Supervisory
Computer
Computers
DAC Manipulator
ADC
ADC
Position
Sensors
Velocity
Sensors
PROBLEMS
1.1 A uid level control system includes a tank, a level sensor, a uid source,
and an actuator to control uid inow. Consult any classical control text
1
to
obtain a block diagram of an analog uid control system. Modify the block
diagram to show how the uid level could be digitally controlled.
1.2 If the temperature of the uid in Problem 1.1 is to be regulated together
with its level, modify the analog control system to achieve the additional
control. (Hint: An additional actuator and sensor are needed.) Obtain a block
diagram for the two-input-two-output control system with digital control.
1.3 Position control servos are discussed extensively in classical control texts.
Draw a block diagram for a direct current motor position control system
after consulting your classical control text. Modify the block diagram to
obtain a digital position control servo.
1.4 Repeat Problem 1.3 for a velocity control servo.
1.5 A ballistic missile is required to follow a predetermined ight path by
adjusting its angle of attack a (the angle between its axis and its velocity
vector v). The angle of attack is controlled by adjusting the thrust angle d
(angle between the thrust direction and the axis of the missile). Draw a
block diagram for a digital control system for the angle of attack including a
gyroscope to measure the angle a and a motor to adjust the thrust angle d.

Thrust
Direction
Velocity
Vector v
FIGURE P1.5
Missile angle-of-attack control.
1.6 A system is proposed to remotely control a missile from an earth station.
Because of cost and technical constraints, the missile coordinates would be
measured every 20 seconds for a missile speed of up to 500 m/s. Is such a
control scheme feasible? What would the designers need to do to eliminate
potential problems?
1
See, for example, J. Van deVegte, Feedback Control Systems, Prentice Hall, 1994.
Problems 7
8 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Digital Control
1.7 The control of the recording head of a dual actuator hard disk drive (HDD)
requires two types of actuators to achieve the required a high real density.
The rst is a coarse voice coil motor (VCM) with a large stroke but slow
dynamics, and the second is a ne piezoelectric transducer (PZT) with a
small stroke and fast dynamics. A sensor measures the head position and
the position error is fed to a separate controller for each actuator. Draw a
block diagram for a dual actuator digital control system for the HDD.
2
2
J. Ding, F. Marcassa, S.-C. Wu, and M. Tomizuka, Multirate control for computational saving, IEEE
Trans. Control Systems Tech., 14(1):165-169, 2006.