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ECE481: DIGITAL CONTROL SYSTEMS

COURSE OUTLINE

SPRING 2021

People

Instructor Dan Davison, ddavison@uwaterloo.ca

 I answer email quickly, so please contact me anytime with any question

related to the lectures or course notes or tests.
 You can alternatively post questions on the YouTube comments section
for each lecture or tutorial.
 I am happy to arrange a weekly live online drop-in “office hour” session if
the class would find that useful. We’ll have to find a time slot that works
for everyone.

Lab instructor Carmen Caradima, carmen.caradima@uwaterloo.ca

 Email Carmen questions related to the lab or lab reports.

Lab TA Mahsa Parsapour, mahsa.parsapour@uwaterloo.ca

 Mahsa’s main job in the course is to grade deliverables associated with

the lab, and to be an additional resource to help students with questions
about the lab.

Mode of operation

Schedules This course, like most or all of your courses this term, is being run remotely. To
give you maximum flexibility, I am running this course completely
asynchronously. You will need to be disciplined to make and keep a daily,
weekly, and monthly schedule. To help you, I have broken up the course into
manageable chunks and distributed them over the term (see page 5).

Weekly email Every weekend I will send the class an email outlining the upcoming week’s
activities and deadlines. I will also keep the LEARN Calendar up to date.

Lecture videos Each week I will create three YouTube videos, corresponding to what would have
been the usual 3 hours of lecture content. The videos are based 100% on the
course notes (see page 6) and will be released by 8:30am (Waterloo time)
normally every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday throughout the term. You

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should watch the videos, imagining you are in a lecture. Have your course notes
in front of you with a pen; work out examples and fill in the blanks in your course
notes as you go through the videos. Pause and think about things. Do not rush
through the videos or try to multitask. You can ask me questions about the video
content by posting comments under the YouTube video, or by sending me email.
Links to all videos will be posted on LEARN. See the schedule on page 5.
Tutorial videos By 8:30am (Waterloo time) roughly every second Thursday I will post a video on
YouTube that goes through some old exam questions related to material covered
recently in lectures. No new course material will be included in the tutorial
videos. They are a resource to help you review, study, and work through the
course content. Links to all videos will be posted on LEARN. See the schedule on
page 5.

Tests The course has six LEARN-based randomized 60-minute multiple-choice tests.
Each test deals with course content covered up to approximately 1 week before
the test date. The test must be written within a specified window on the test day;
and I will poll the class to determine a time interval that works for everyone. See
the schedule on page 5. Note that:

 There are 6 tests in total, worth 80% of your course grade. I will drop
the lowest score for each student. Each of the remaining 5 tests is worth
16% of the final course grade.
 Tests are to be done individually. You may not communicate directly or
indirectly with any person except the course instructor.
 Tests are open book in the sense that you may consult your course notes.
You may not use any other resources,
 You must have access to LEARN to write the tests.

Fine print: Any test missed without a valid reason scores a grade of zero. If one
test is missed for a valid reason, the remaining 5 tests are each worth
16% of the final grade. If two tests are missed for a valid reason, the
remaining 4 tests are each worth 20% of the final grade. Students
who miss more than 2 tests (for any reason, valid or not) will get a
grade of INC in the course until a make-up test can be arranged. The
instructor makes the ultimate determination about the validity of a
reason for missing a test.

Labs This course normally has in-person labs. This term we will have to be satisfied
with simulations that can be run off campus. Simulations are not as impressive,
but most learning outcomes can still be met, and the lab is still fun.

 Here’s a video that introduces the lab: https://youtu.be/77ylqpIp4yI

 The lab manual is available on LEARN in the “labs” folder.
 The lab is worth 20% of your final grade.
 The lab has three parts and requires submission of three reports:

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o Lab 1 report: worth 6%, due June 15, 11:59pm (Waterloo time)
o Lab 2 report: worth 9%, due July 20, 11:59pm (Waterloo time)
o Lab 3 report: worth 5%, due Aug 4, 11:59pm (Waterloo time)
 See the lab manual for details about the report requirements.
 You must have access to Matlab and Simulink to work on the lab.
 Labs should be done individually (not in pairs, as is common for labs).
You are allowed to consult with others in the class to share ideas and
approaches, but each person must individually write up their own lab
reports and create their own code. See the lab manual for details on
acceptable group work.
 Use of “homework services” such as chegg.com and coursehero.com is
prohibited.
 Lab reports should be submitted in the associated LEARN dropboxes.
Any report (including any associated project code) submitted late will
lose marks, at the discretion of the lab instructor, at a rate of 1% per hour.

Matlab You need to have access to Matlab. The university has a license for unlimited
access to Matlab for all students. You can access Matlab in several ways:

 Download and run Matlab on your own computer

 Access Matlab through the “Matlab online cloud”
 Run Matlab on a university computer by remote desktop (via EngLab)

For details, see:

- https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ISTKB/pages/284525621/Dow
nload+or+use+MATLAB+online
- https://englab.uwaterloo.ca/

Summary of grading scheme

Tests 80%
Labs 20%
100%
*Bonus marks 4%

*As an incentive to help you not get behind, most of the 36 lecture videos explain how a
random subset of the class can get a 0.5% bonus mark. Correctly answer the simple question
within 24 hours of the nominal lecture time, and you get the bonus. The maximum overall
bonus per student is 4%.

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Tips for online learning

do… don’t…
- create a dedicated study space at - think online courses are necessarily
home without distractions easy
- treat each online course as seriously - procrastinate
as you would treat an in-person - get distracted by games or videos or
course email when you are studying
- break up all your courses into - passively learn, just listening to
manageable chunks videos and superficially reading
- keep up with material: create a daily, notes
weekly, and monthly schedule and - binge watch videos or cram for tests
stick to it - throw away your morals and plan to
- write notes with a pen and paper cheat
(science shows you learn better this - assume you are alone
way than just by typing)
- engage in lectures (whether live or
pre-recorded), read books and notes
- ask questions if you are confused
- reach out to instructors and
classmates

Here are some good resources that should help prepare you for an online term…

 Common mistakes to avoid as a new online student

 Getting Ready to learn online
 What makes a successful online learner
 8 strategies for getting the most out of an online class

Here are some tips specifically about writing online tests/exams:

 Tips for taking online exams

 Online exam tips you’ll be thankful for

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Detailed Schedule of activities

Lec = lecture video released by 8:30am (Waterloo time)

Tut = tutorial video released by 8:30am (Waterloo time)
Test = 60-minute randomized test on LEARN (time to be determined)
Lab = lab report due date; submit in LEARN dropbox by 11:59pm (Waterloo time)

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

May 10 May 11 May 12 May 13 May 14
Lec 0 (welcome) Lec 2 Lec 3
Lec 1
May 17 May 18 May 19 May 20 May 21
Lec 4 Lec 5 Tut 1 Lec 6
May 24 May 25 May 26 May 27 May 28
Holiday! Test 1 Lec 7 Lec 8
May 31 June 1 June 2 June 3 June 4
Lec 9 Lec 10 Tut 2 Lec 11
June 7 June 8 June 9 June 10 June 11
Lec 12 Test 2 Lec 13 Lec 14
June 14 June 15 June 16 June 17 June 18
Lec 15 Lab 1 Lec 16 Tut 3 Lec 17
June 21 June 22 June 23 June 24 June 25
Lec 18 Lec 19 Lec 20
June 28 June 29 June 30 July 1 July 2
Lec 21 Test 3 Lec 22 Holiday! Holiday!
July 5 July 6 July 7 July 8 July 9
Lec 23 Lec 24 Tut 4 Lec 25
July 12 July 13 July 14 July 15 July 16
Lec 26 Test 4 Lec 27 Lec 28
July 19 July 20 July 21 July 22 July 23
Lec 29 Lab 2 Lec 30 Tut 5 Lec 31
July 26 July 27 July 28 July 29 July 30
Lec 32 Test 5 Lec 33 Tut 6 Lec 34
Aug 2 Aug 3 (M sched.) Aug 4 (R sched.) Aug 5 (F sched.) Aug 6
Holiday! Lec 35 Lab 3 Lec 36 Study day

Test 6 will be centrally scheduled during the final assessment period

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Resources

Course notes Tests are based entirely on the video material, which, in turn, is based entirely
(required) on a set of course notes. The course notes are for sale in two packages in the
W Store, and can be ordered online via the “My Booklook” system. A
softcopy of the notes is also available on LEARN, although I strongly recommend
you purchase a hardcopy since you will learn the material better if you write
things down during the video sessions.

YouTube videos As mentioned above, I will post on YouTube pre-recorded lectures, based
(required) 100% on the course notes, and pre-recorded tutorials that go through relevant
questions from old exams. Links to all videos will be given in LEARN as they
become available. Alternatively, you can access all videos through the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc6mUrCrMKSI4BxCKHrHmBEdh5hh-Aluy

I strongly recommend that you watch the videos faithfully each week, and fill in
the blanks and write comments on your copy of the course notes. Think and
engage when going the videos, don’t passively sit by or try to multitask. And do
not try to binge watch or speed up videos—it won’t work.

LEARN page The course has a LEARN page. Any course announcements, handouts, or material
(required) prepared for tutorials will be included on it. In addition, brief “answers” to the
blanks in the lecture notes are posted, but those comments are not as substantial
as everything contained in the YouTube videos. Links to all videos will be posted
on LEARN. Finally, the course tests are run through LEARN.

Old exams I’ve assembled a collection of old midterm and final exam questions, most with
(optional) answers included. This resource is available on LEARN.

Other books All the topics in this course are well established and included in any book that
(optional) deals with digital control systems.

How this course fits into the ECE curriculum

This course builds on classical control theory from a first control course (ECE380 or equivalent)
and assumes good working knowledge of Laplace transforms, transfer functions, Bode plots, block
diagrams, and basic control tools (Routh-Hurwitz test, root locus plots, Nyquist plots). Familiarity
with z-transforms is an asset, but not required.

Course objective, content, and outcomes

The main objective of this course is to study both practical and theoretical issues that arise
when a controller is implemented on a computer to control a continuous-time plant.

On the next page is a summary of the major topics and outcomes of the course…

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Chapter Major topics Major outcomes

Chapter 1 - course objective - state the main objective of
What is this course all - introduction to main course the course
about? concepts - manipulate sampled-data
block diagrams
- explain the design steps in
[approx. 5 “lecture hours”] emulation and direct design
Chapter 2 - general approach for - explain and apply several
Practical aspects of modeling system identification
modelling - system identification methods
techniques
[approx. 4.5 “lecture hours”]
Chapter 3 - cancellation and - apply practical methods of
Practical ways of coping linearization of dealing with static
with nonlinearities nonlinearities nonlinearities and stiction
- stiction, saturation, limit - apply linearization and limit
cycles cycle analysis to nonlinear
[approx. 6 “lecture hours”] control systems
Chapter 4 - discretization in direct - explain how discretization
Discretization methods design arises in direct design and
- discretization in emulation emulation
- calculate various
[approx. 3 “lecture hours”] discretizations
Chapter 5 - review of z-transform basics - manipulate discrete-time
Theory of discrete-time - stability of discrete-time block diagrams
linear systems systems - work comfortably in the
- intuition about the z-plane 𝑧𝑧-plane
- Bode plots in discrete time - interpret discrete-time Bode
[approx. 6.5 ”lecture hours”] plots
Chapter 6 - emulation: a trick to - explain and apply the “𝑇𝑇/2
Controller design for partially account for the trick” for emulation design
sampled-data systems sampler and hold - apply control tools (root
- direct design: discrete-time locus, Nyquist theory, etc.)
versions of all major tools to discrete-time control
[approx. 8.5 ”lecture hours”] (root locus, Nyquist plots, …) systems
Chapter 7 - stability of sampled-data - determine pathological
A more detailed look at systems sampling frequencies and
sampled-data systems - inter-sample behaviour in evaluate stability of a
sampled-data systems sampled-data system
- guarantees in emulation and - explain guarantees of
direct design stability and inter-sample
behaviour associated with
[approx. 2.5 ”lecture hours”] emulation and direct design

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Standard university statements

Academic In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the

integrity University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust,
fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity
for more information.]
Grievances A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her
university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for
initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances,
Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s
administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
Discipline A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid
committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her
actions. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.] A
student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs
help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about
“rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course
instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For
information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should
refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines
for the Assessment of Penalties.
Appeals A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and
Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be
appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for
an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.
Note for AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with
students with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for
disabilities students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the
curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of
your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of
each academic term.
Turnitin.com Text matching software (Turnitin®) will be used in this course on the
submitted lab reports. Turnitin® stores all submissions on a U.S. server. If
you do not want your lab reports to be scanned by Turnitin®, let the
instructor know and your lab reports will be manually checked for
plagiarism.