Course Program and Information

Lectures and Administration

Course responsible and lecturer is Richard Pates. Links to an external site.Ladok administrator is Mika Nishimura.

Teaching Assistants

Emil Vladu and Fethi Bencherki are responsible for the exercises.

Schedule

Please note: The LTH schedule for FRTN05 Links to an external site. does not tell the full story:
  • Dates and times for the physical exercise sessions 1–14 should be correct.
  • Exam date and time are correct.

but . . . 

  • Lab sessions are booked separately in SAM. Links to the signups will appear in the Laboratories section.

Course registration

Do not forget to register that you are actually taking the course in Ladok. Also, please unregister from the course in Ladok and in Canvas if you decide to drop out before the first lab.

Prerequisites

FRTN05 Automatic Control, Basic Course (Links to an external site.) is assumed prior knowledge. You are supposed to have taken the basic courses in mathematics, including linear algebra and calculus in several variables, and preferably also a course in systems & transforms or similar. Several important concepts from the basic courses will be reviewed in the first lectures and in the first exercise session. 

Course material and literature

The course contents are defined by the lecture slides, exercise problems and laboratory manuals (see below), which are all posted here in Canvas. You may also have use for Automatic Control – Collection of Formulae (pdf) Download Automatic Control – Collection of Formulae (pdf).

Recommended textbook is

  • Glad, T., and Ljung,L., "Reglerteori: Flervariabla och olinjära metoder" (2003, Studentlitteratur, Lund, ISBN 9-14-403003-7) or the English translation "Control Theory: Multivariable and Nonlinear Methods", 2000, Taylor & Francis Ltd, ISBN 0-74-840878-9. Chapter 11-16,18. The first part of this book (Ch. 1-10) covers linear control theory and is useful for the course FRTN55 Automatic Control, Advanced Course.

An alternative reference is

  • Khalil, H. K., Nonlinear Systems (3rd ed., 2002, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-122740-8). This is a good textbook on nonlinear control systems, at a bit more advanced level than the course.

There will also be optional reading in the form of scientific articles.

Covid-19 policy

Teaching will return to normal in LP2. However this does not mean that Covid does not exist. If you feel unwell with cold symptoms, cough, or fever, you must stay at home. This applies even if you only feel slightly unwell. Do not return to the university for at least two days after you have recovered. All course material will be available in digital form, and we will do our best to accommodate the need for retake laboratory sessions and exercises. We will also be monitoring the situation carefully. To give you an idea of the types of measures that may be introduced, please see the Covid-19 policy at the Department of Automatic Control (Links to an external site.) from last year.

Lectures

The lectures (14 in total) will be given in person. However all lecture videos and slides from last year are already available.

Exercise sessions

The exercise sessions (14 in total) are voluntary.  They will be held in person. If you need to join remotely, get in touch with us by email, and we'll sort something out.

Laboratory experiments

The three laboratory sessions are mandatory.  Booking is done via SAM at the latest one day before the first instance of the lab. Links to the signups lists will appear in the Laboratories section. Before each session, there are pre-lab assignments that must be completed and that require a substantial amount of work. At the lab session, you will be asked to present a full set of written solutions to these assignments, and you should be able to explain them when requested to do so. If you are not prepared enough, you will be asked to do the lab at another session and come better prepared. It is therefore especially important that you come prepared, and it is encouraged to make use of the exercise sessions to make these preparations. No reports are required afterwards.

Exam

The working plan is to give an in person exam on Monday, January 10 at 14:00–19:00. Retake exams are offered in April and August. The exam will be open book. The allowed materials are

1. The lecture slides
2. The notes we took in lectures
3. The collection of formulae: formelsamlingeng.pdf Download formelsamlingeng.pdf
4. The following course summary and extended formula sheet: Summary FRTN05.pdf Download Summary FRTN05.pdf Extended_formula_sheet_FRTN05.pdf Download Extended_formula_sheet_FRTN05.pdf
5. Either or both of the recommended course books:
- Glad, T., and Ljung,L., "Reglerteori: Flervariabla och olinjära metoder"
- Khalil, H. K., "Nonlinear Systems"

With the exception of the books, the allowed material can be downloaded here: exam-materials.zip Download exam-materials.zip. As discussed in lectures, you will be allowed to bring these items either physically, or digitally on either a laptop or tablet. Of course the objective of the exam is not to test your ability to find information, so obtaining every allowed resource is probably not the best use of your time - you would be better off focusing on understanding the material and practicing questions, and identifying which formulae/ideas you are will need to look up, and which you can just remember. If you wish to use digital copies, please have things in clearly labelled pdfs so we can quickly check them. Use of digital resources is 'at your own risk' - we cannot guarantee access to power outlets etc, so make sure your electronics are fully charged. Use of the internet or computational tools is not be allowed (i.e. you can use pdfs of the above, but not use your computer for anything else). Note also that this year sliding mode control will be omitted, so you can safely ignore all past exam questions on this topic. If you are unsure about any aspect of the above, send an email in good time before the exam, and I'll be happy to clarify.