Feedback Control Systems Lab

Course Description

Feedback Control Systems Lab covers practical applications of time and frequency domain modelling; analysis of networks and control systems; time response; block diagram reduction, Bode plots, root locus, stability, compensation considerations, and digital simulation techniques.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, EET is the Electronic Engineering Technology prefix and the L suffix marks a laboratory-only course. Daytona State publishes it at 1 credit with a $21.00 lab fee, offered spring, with EET4732 as prerequisite.

⚠ Note on this course number across institutions. Daytona State publishes a combined EET4732C at 4 credits and 80 hours under the title "Signals and Systems", while this laboratory is titled "Feedback Control Systems Lab". This repository has previously recorded that EET4732 carries substantially different subjects at different Florida institutions — signals and systems at one, feedback control at another — so the title alone is an unreliable guide to content on this number. Read the description and confirm with the receiving institution.

Feedback is the idea that makes modern engineering possible, and it is also genuinely counter-intuitive: a system can be made faster, more accurate, and more tolerant of component variation by feeding its output back to oppose its input — and the same mechanism, misapplied, makes it oscillate uncontrollably. This laboratory is where both halves become concrete.

Daytona State publishes no contact hours for its L-suffixed EET laboratories, and there is no live EET laboratory to anchor against. The figure used here follows the institution's consistent one-credit laboratory convention of 30 contact hours — CET1114L, CET3198L, PHT2211L and PHT2214L are all published at 1 credit and 30 hours. It is also consistent internally: the combined EET3085C is published at 3 credits and 60 hours, which a 2-credit lecture at the 15-hour convention plus a 1-credit laboratory at 30 reproduces exactly. ⚠ This is a derived figure rather than a published one — confirm with the programme.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Model a physical system in the time domain.
• Model a system in the frequency domain using transfer functions.
• Reduce a block diagram to a single transfer function.
• Describe open-loop and closed-loop configurations and compare them.
• Measure and interpret step response.
• Determine rise time, settling time, overshoot, and steady-state error from a response.
• Relate time-domain performance to system parameters.
• Measure frequency response and construct a Bode plot.
• Determine gain margin and phase margin from measurement.
• Assess stability from frequency response data.
• Construct and interpret a root locus.
• Predict the effect of gain changes on stability and response.
• Observe and characterise instability and oscillation.
• Describe proportional, integral, and derivative control actions.
• Tune a controller and observe the effect of each term.
• Describe compensation and its purpose.
• Design and apply lead and lag compensation.
• Simulate a control system digitally.
• Compare simulated and measured system behaviour.
• Describe sensors, actuators, and their effect on loop performance.
• Describe the effect of delay on stability.
• Troubleshoot a control loop systematically.
• Apply safety practice when operating physical actuators.
• Record results and write a laboratory report.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe state-space representation.
• Describe digital control and sampling effects.
• Describe nonlinear effects, including saturation and backlash.
• Describe system identification from measured data.
• Describe industrial control implementations.
• Complete an independent control project.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Time domain modelling
• Frequency domain modelling and transfer functions
• Block diagram reduction
• Open-loop versus closed-loop
• Step response measurement
• Rise time, settling, overshoot, steady-state error
• Time-domain performance and parameters
• Frequency response and Bode plots
• Gain and phase margin
• Stability assessment
• Root locus
• Effect of gain on stability
• Instability and oscillation
• Proportional, integral, and derivative action
• Controller tuning
• Compensation
• Lead and lag compensation
• Digital simulation
• Simulation versus measurement
• Sensors and actuators
• Delay and stability
• Systematic loop troubleshooting
• Actuator safety
• Laboratory reporting

Optional Topics

• State-space representation
• Digital control and sampling
• Nonlinear effects
• System identification
• Industrial control implementations
• Independent control project

Resources & Tools

• The programme's laboratory and its instruments — the reason to take these courses in person. Oscilloscope competence in particular is built only by using one.
• LTspice, Multisim, or Falstad's circuit simulator — LTspice and Falstad are free; simulate before you build and after it fails.
• The Art of Electronics (Horowitz & Hill) — the reference practising engineers keep, and unusually readable.
• Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory (Boylestad & Nashelsky) — the standard course text.
• Manufacturer datasheets and application notes — free, and the primary source; learning to read a datasheet properly is a genuine professional skill.
• IPC standards (ipc.org) — the electronics assembly and soldering standards industry actually works to; IPC certification is recognised by employers.
• BICSI (bicsi.org) — structured cabling standards and installer credentials.
• A decent multimeter of your own — and know its limitations; a cheap meter lies confidently.
• ABET (abet.org) — free accreditation lookup; check which commission a programme is accredited under.
• MATLAB and Simulink, Octave, or Python with control libraries — Octave and Python are free; being able to compute a root locus and a Bode plot quickly is a working skill.
• Modern Control Engineering (Ogata) — the standard reference for exactly this material.

Career Pathways

• Electrical and electronics engineering technologist or technician — SOC 17-3023.
• Electronics assembly and test technician — a common entry route.
• Field service and maintenance technician — instrumentation, medical devices, industrial equipment.
• Structured cabling and network infrastructure installation — a distinct and steady trade.
• Communications and RF technician — broadcast, telecommunications, and avionics.
• Controls and instrumentation technician — process industries and building systems.
• Aerospace and defence electronics — a large Florida sector on the Space Coast; ⚠ many roles require U.S. citizenship and some a security clearance.
• Test engineering and quality.
• Manufacturing engineering support.
• Continue to a bachelor's or master's — ⚠ see the note on engineering technology and professional licensure.

Special Information

⚠⚠ Stability margins exist because a stable system can still be a bad system

• "Stable" is not the same as "adequate". A loop can be technically stable and still oscillate for a long time after a disturbance, or sit on the edge of instability where a small change in a component pushes it over.
• Gain margin and phase margin quantify how much room you have. A design with tiny margins works on the bench and fails in production when components vary, temperature changes, or a load is added.
• Increasing gain improves steady-state accuracy and degrades stability. That trade is the central tension of control design, and there is no way around it — only compensation.
• ⚠ Delay is the enemy of stability. Any lag in the loop — sensor response, computation, actuator dynamics — adds phase shift, and enough phase shift turns negative feedback into positive feedback. This is why fast sensors and short loops matter.
• Watch for saturation. Real actuators have limits, and a controller commanding beyond them behaves nothing like the linear model predicts — integral windup is the classic consequence.
• Tune methodically, one term at a time, and record what each change did.
• Measure the actual response rather than trusting the model; models omit friction, backlash, and noise.
• ⚠ Be careful with physical actuators. A control loop driving a motor can move unexpectedly and violently during tuning — guard the mechanism, keep hands clear, and know where the stop is.

⚠⚠ Electronics laboratory safety — low voltage is not no voltage

• Bench voltages can injure and kill. The assumption that electronics work is inherently safe because it is not mains voltage is wrong — and equipment on the bench is frequently mains-powered regardless.
• ⚠ Capacitors store charge after power is removed. Power supply filter capacitors in particular can hold a dangerous charge for a long time. Discharge before touching, and treat every large capacitor as charged.
• De-energise before rewiring. Build the circuit, check it, then apply power — not the reverse.
• Check polarity and voltage before switching on. Reversed electrolytic capacitors vent violently, and over-voltage destroys semiconductors instantly.
• Current-limit the supply when testing a new build; it converts a destroyed board into a puzzle to solve.
• ⚠ Oscilloscope grounds are usually earthed. Connecting a scope ground clip to a point that is not at earth potential creates a short circuit through the instrument — this destroys equipment and can be dangerous, and it is one of the most common laboratory accidents.
• Eye protection when cutting leads. Clipped component legs travel at speed.
• Soldering irons burn and they do not look hot. Return them to the stand every time and never pass one hand to hand.
• Report damaged leads, cracked cases, and equipment faults rather than working around them.

⚠⚠ Engineering technology is not engineering for licensure purposes

• This distinction matters for anyone who may want to become a licensed Professional Engineer, and students frequently discover it too late.
• An engineering technology degree and an engineering degree are different qualifications, accredited under different criteria, and state licensing boards treat them differently.
• Requirements for PE licensure vary by state, and a technology degree may mean additional experience, a different pathway, or in some states no pathway at all.
• ⚠ If professional licensure is a goal, establish the pathway before you invest years in a programme — ask the Florida Board of Professional Engineers directly, and ask about any state you might move to.
• This is not a criticism of engineering technology. It is a distinct and valuable discipline oriented to application and implementation, and most graduates never need a PE licence — but the ones who do need to have planned for it.
• ABET accredits both, under different commissions; check which one a programme holds.
• ⚠ Rule 11 applies — licensure requirements change; verify with the board rather than relying on any course guide.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement — and it is live in these prefixes, where Daytona State offers both associate-level and bachelor of applied science coursework.

EET4732L is 1 credit and approximately 30 contact hours with a $21.00 lab fee, offered spring at Daytona State, with EET4732 as prerequisite.

⚠ The contact hours are derived rather than published, and this course number carries different subjects at different Florida institutions — see the note above and confirm equivalency carefully.