© University of Reading School of Systems Engineering Matlab Assessment for Final Year Units Victor M. Becerra School of Systems Engineering

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Outline Context Contents Software tools employed Materials Tutorials Advantages Disadvantages / Risks Assessment Concluding remarks 2

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Context Advanced Control is an M-level module at Reading. Compulsory in MEng Cybernetics, year 4 Optional in MSc Cybernetics and for the MEng Robotics. 3

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Context Prior control knowledge by students includes: - Basic analysis in the Laplace domain - Basic frequency design methods - State space analysis and design - Basic knowledge of Matlab/Simulink 4

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Context Prior control knowledge often includes: - Sampled data systems - Introductory optimal and nonlinear control - Introductory system identification 5

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Contents 20 credit module (40 contact hours) Divided into four subtopics : – Nonlinear programming – Robust control – Nonlinear control – System identification (until 2011) Currently 30 hours of lectures and 10 hours of Matlab based tutorials. 6

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Contents Nonlinear programming - Unconstrained local optimisation - Line Search - Quasi-Newton methods - Constrained local optimisation (SQP) - Evolutionary algorithms - Control applications - Controller tuning - Nonlinear optimal control 7

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Contents Robust control: – Mixed sensitivity design – MIMO systems analysis – Uncertainty – Robustness – Structured singular value – H control design – Robust PID control 8

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Contents Nonlinear control – Lyapunov stability concepts – La Salle invariant set theory – Model reference adaptive control – Feedback linearisation – Sliding mode control – Control Lyapunov functions – Backstepping – Written exam answers for this part 9

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Software tools employed Matlab Simulink Control systems toolbox Optimisation toolbox Robust control toolbox Limited third party Matlab code (e.g. differential evolution) 10

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Materials Materials employed includes: – Lecture notes – Tutorial questions and solutions – Matlab/Simulink code – Past exam questions and solutions 11

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Tutorials 10 hours of computer based tutorials Each student is assigned a PC during the tutorial. Typically one design question is given for each tutorial. The lecturer is available to answer questions and to provide guidance to the students. 12

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Assessment 3 hour exam consists of 6 questions, 2 for each section One question from each section must be answered Four of the questions require the use of Matlab. Four Matlab based questions are worth 30 marks each, the other two are worth 20 marks each. 13

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Assessment Open book Network connection is mostly disabled during the exam. – Only connections to the Matlab license server and Blackboard are allowed. Code reuse is possible – If reusing code, student must modify the code to attempt the answer, otherwise no marks. 14

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Assessment Answers are returned in the form of – Matlab scripts for each question, – MS-Word documents with Matlab plots and other output, – written comment on answer books. Digital files produced by the students are uploaded using Blackboard. These files are later printed by the examiner and joined with the answer books prior to marking. – Printing may be tedious but avoids disruption during the exam. 15

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Advantages The students appreciate the challenge. It is possible to ask realistic design questions which would be impossible to consider otherwise. It is still possible to assess analytical skills. Students are forced to learn the use of software tools that are relevant to industry. 16

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Disadvantages / Risks It usually takes additional time / effort to prepare the questions and model answers. Sufficient number Matlab and toolbox licenses is required. Risk of power failure during exam Risk of software bugs affecting the students – Either Matlab or the operating system may crash or become irresponsive. 17

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Disadvantages / Risks Extra PCs should be on standby Work space of PC labs not always ideal for written answers More difficult with large groups. So far groups of up to 18 students have been handled without problems 18

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Concluding remarks Matlab based exams running for 11 years Overall the experience has been positive, which is reflected by feedback from the students External examiners have consistently praised the use of computer based assessment and have suggested its use in other modules 19

Matlab Assessment of Final Year Units Concluding remarks Three other modules taught at the School now employ Matlab based assessment: – Nonlinear and Optimal Control, – Signal Processing, – Medical Image Processing. A new MSc module Fundamentals of Control Systems will use Matlab based assessment from