ENGR 105: Feedback Control Design

Here is some important information about the Final Exam:

Exam Date: Wednesday, March 20

Time: 8:30-11:30 am (although I do not anticipate that it will take most students this long)

Location: Building 320, Room 105 -- Note that this is NOT OUR USUAL ROOM!, nor the room we used for our midterm exam!


What you can bring: No calculators, cell phones, or other electronic apparatus except as needed for timekeeping. The exam is closed book and closed notes, except you may bring FOUR sheets of paper with notes (writing on front and back of each sheet is okay). You might wish to use the two sheets of notes you created for the midterm and add to it for the final. I will provide a table of Laplace transforms, e.g. the one on the inside front cover of your book. (If you want Table A.1, which is a list of *properties* of Laplace Transforms, you should add that to your own notes.)

Seating: Sit every other seat. I will be outside the room in case questions arise.

Coverage: You should be familiar with topics through the end of of the last lecture. In-depth questions will focus on topics through Homework 8.

Sample Exam: Two sample exams are posted on piazza at https://piazza.com/stanford/winter2013/engr105/resources under “General Resources”. For each sample exam, there is a version without solutions and a version with solutions.

Note: I and the TAs will hold our regular office hours through next Tuesday, March 19. There will be no problem session this week. Feel free to come see us in office hours or arrange a separate appointment if you need guidance on preparing for the final exam.

Due to numerous requests (because of project deadlines this week in many other courses), I am giving the WHOLE CLASS an extension on Assignment #7 until Thursday, March 7 at 4:00 pm.

Note that:

- There are no office hours scheduled on Thursday, so if you have questions please attend office hours on Wednesday or post to piazza.

- There are no "late" assignments allowed beyond Thursday at 4 pm -- we still want to post the solutions in a timely fashion.

The Mini Lab (called so because it is intended to be very short and give you a quick intuition for implementing control systems) is now posted under "Homework".

This mini lab is to be completed in groups of two. Only one submission is needed for the group, and both partners will receive the same score. Each group will need to bring one laptop with a USB port and MATLAB installed to the laboratory. It should be a Windows or Mac OS X computer, since we have not tested on Linux. We expect that this assignment will take 30-45 minutes in the lab and ~30 minutes after.

As soon as possible, sign up for ONE lab slot AS A PAIR (two names) on http://doodle.com/ubcibhk29fu3hvuz. If you cannot make any of the available slots, please contact Allison via piazza (by Wednesday, March 6) with a list of the times you and your partner are available (use tag #labtime).

Labs will be conducted in Room 128, Bldg. 660 (the Mechanical Engineering Research Lab [MERL] Building), under supervision of one of the instructors. Up to 5 groups can work in the lab at the same time. You should use the entrance to MERL on Panama Mall, as the entrance on the other side of the building is locked at all times. Since the Panama Mall entrance is also locked after 5 pm, so if your lab time is scheduled for after that, the TA will come to the Panama Mall entrance to let you in at the lab start time (so please arrive on time).

The TAs and I will not be holding problem session or office hours today (Friday), Monday, or Tuesday. If you would like to arrange a meeting with a TA on Tuesday, please email them to request a meeting. Sangram and I will be holding our usual office hours on Wednesday to answer any questions about the exam, which will be graded and returned by Wednesday.

In addition, we will not have lecture on Friday, Feb. 22. This will be replaced sometime in the next few weeks with a short (< 1 hour) controls laboratory that will give you some experience with practical implementation of controllers on a physical system. The details and scheduling/sign-up for these mini-labs will be announced next week.

There *will* be a problem session on Feb. 22 at the usual place/time.

I hope the exam went well for you. Enjoy the long weekend!

Just a reminder that the exam tomorrow is not in our usual room. Please arrive early and sit every other seat. I will pass out the exams before 9 am so that you can start working on it at 9 am and have a full 50 minutes.

Detailed Midterm Exam information is in this post: https://piazza.com/class#winter2013/engr105/61

In lecture on Friday this week, we will introduce you to some useful Matlab Tools: The Control Systems Toolbox and Simulink. We will have a "Matlab Challenge" pitting these two tools (and teams within the class) against each other to see who can solve control problems most quickly and accurately.

If possible, please bring your computer with the following software installed: MATLAB, Simulink, and the Control System Toolbox. All of these come with the Student Edition of MATLAB.

Here is some important information about the Midterm Exam:

Date: Friday, February 15

Time: 9-9:50 am (Please arrive early. I will pass out the exam before 9 am, and you will able to begin working at exactly 9 am. The exam must end at 9:50 am since there is another class in the room at 10 am.)

Location: 420-40 (Jordan Hall) -- NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT OUR USUAL ROOM!


What you can bring: No calculators, cell phones, or other electronic apparatus. There is a clock in the room. The exam is closed book and closed notes, except you may bring two sheets of paper with notes (writing on front and back is okay). I will provide a table of Laplace transforms, e.g. the one on the inside front cover of your book. (If you want Table A.1, which is a list of *properties* of Laplace Transforms, you should add that to your own notes.)

Seating: Sit every other seat. I and a TA will be outside the room in case questions arise

Coverage: You should be familiar with topics through the end of lecture on Wednesday Feb. 13 (the last lecture before the exam). In-depth questions will focus on topics through Homework 5.

Sample Exam: A sample exam is posted on piazza at https://piazza.com/stanford/winter2013/engr105/resources under “General Resources”. There is a version without solutions and a version with solutions.

Note: There will be no assignment handed out next week. Also, there will be no problem session the afternoon of Feb. 15. (Enjoy the holiday weekend!)