ENG2026 : Automatic Control Systems
- Offered for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Professor Damian Giaouris
- Owning School: Engineering
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 10 |
| ECTS Credits: | 5.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
To provide students with the knowledge to apply fundamental control theory techniques to engineering problems and introduce the basic concepts of controller design. This will be achieved through lectures, tutorials, and independent study. The skills obtained in this module are prerequisite for many other modules taught later in the degree programme and valuable for engineering careers in areas such as electric drives, power systems and advanced control systems.
Outline Of Syllabus
This module introduces the important subject of Control Systems and Automatic Control that can be used to solve a variety of different engineering problems. The focus will be on the well-known Laplace Transform to model dynamical systems, the study of systems in the Laplace domain and the design of simple controllers to achieve a satisfactory performance of the systems under study.
The delivery of the module will be a series of lectures in a lecture room and supported by additional online material on Matlab.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 11 | 2:00 | 22:00 | N/A |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 20 | 1:00 | 20:00 | Revision for final exam and completion of final exam |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 10:00 | 10:00 | Completing formatively assessed tutorial sheets. |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 1 | 20:00 | 20:00 | General reading |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 28:00 | 28:00 | Reviewing lecture notes. |
| Total | 100:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Lectures provide the core material and give students the opportunity to engage with set questions and query material covered in the lecture.
Problem solving is introduced through tutorial sheets will help students’ understanding of each topic.
Matlab based material provide an opportunity to gain practical experience with a variety of instruments and validate the theory introduced in lectures, but is not assessed.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Exams
| Description | Length | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written Examination | 90 | 2 | A | 100 | 1 1/2 hour Closed-Book Exam |
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written exercise | 2 | M | This is a single formative assessment set later in the semester comprising questions on topics covered up to that point to help students’ understanding and also prepare them for the exam. |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
The examination allows students to demonstrate their ability to solve engineering problems focused on basic control systems, assessing knowledge outcomes and skill outcomes (M1, M2, M3, M6).
The formative assessment set later in the semester comprising questions on topics covered up to that point to help students’ understanding and also prepare them for the exam.
Students will be assessed on their ability to tackle engineering problems focussed on Automatic Control Systems through the formative question sheet and the summative examination.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- ENG2026's Timetable