Digital Servo Systems Short Course

DIGITAL SERVO SYSTEMS SHORT COURSE

practical course for control system, Firmware,
mechanical and electrical engineers and technical managers|

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This practical and comprehensive three day on-site course enables attendees to rapidly become proficient in the use of digital control techniques used in high performance mechatronic or servomechanical products. The course covers the essential theory and classical and modern control system fundamentals required for digital servo design. Its unique interdisciplinary approach integrates mechanical, electrical and control system dynamics. The advantages and tradeoffs of various practical digital control techniques are discussed. Attendees also learn about performance optimization and practical adaptive control techniques that can be used to significantly increase servo system performance and robustness.

Students profit from a very interactive classroom environment. And, by scheduling this course on-site, attendees are able to discuss design issues of concern to them and receive expert advice regarding their specific technical issues.

Dr. Sidman has taught this course over the past 20 years to design engineers spanning a wide range of industries, refining it into the most comprehensive and practical course of its kind.

COURSE OUTLINE

Insights into S-Plane, Z-Plane and Discrete-Time Systems
Insights into Root Locus and Bode Plot Design
Seek Performance and Velocity Profile Design
State-Space Design Methods and Analysis
State-Space Model of a High Performance Actuator
Digital Control of a Lightly Damped Actuator
Issues in Implementation of Digital Control Systems
Automatic Bias Torque Correction
Feedforward Repetitive Disturbance Correction
Active Control of Shock, Vibration and Windup
System Identification Techniques and Examples
Self Tuning Adaptive Control Methods
High Performance State Estimators
Actuation and Sensing Strategies
Simulation and Optimization of Digital Servo Systems.

COURSE FEATURES

Customized on-site instruction
Expert advice on client's specific design issues
Unique interdisciplinary approach
Quickly ramp up your team's productivity
Practical application and trade-offs of digital control techniques
Design technique caveats and solutions
Unifies mechanical, electrical and control system dynamics
Classical and modern digital control fundamentals
Practical adaptive methods for performance enhancement
MATLAB/SIMULINK based class examples
Includes about 400 pages of course notes, MATLAB scripts, case studies and examples

Applications

Mechatronic systems
Magnetic disk and optical disc drive servo systems
Computer system peripherals
Motion control applications
Motor control and drives
Rotating machines
Flexible structures
Active damping
Vibration control
Machine tool control
High performance DSP-based servo systems
Aerospace and naval control systems
Automotive control systems
Electromechanical systems and products

A variant of this course entitled Digital Servo Systems Short Course for Disk Drives focuses on the unique problems of head positioning digital servo control in contemporary magnetic disk drives (HDD's), capitalizing on Dr. Sidman's 35 years of design experience and 17 patents in the disk drive industry. Also of interest may be the comprehensive, open architecture Disk Drive Servo System Simulation Model.

Who should attend?

This course is intended for engineers and technical managers involved in digital servo product and system design. Those most benefiting include mechanical, electrical and control system designers of digital servo systems, drive mechanics, real time/DSP hardware and software and those wishing to keep abreast of rapidly evolving control technology. Whether you are controlling milliwatts or hundreds of horsepower, your team will benefit from this comprehensive and practical course.

INSTRUCTOR

Dr. Sidman is a recognized leader in both servo system product development and applied research with over 35 years experience spanning a wide range of industries. As a pioneer and expert in high performance digital servo systems and adaptive control, he brings a practical perspective and unique interdisciplinary approach that integrates the diverse skills of your design team. Participants also benefit from Dr. Sidman's extensive experience in the simulation and optimization of dynamic systems.

Dr. Sidman is the named inventor on 18 U.S. patents, author of many technical papers and received a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1986. As Digital Equipment Corporation's top servo systems guru, Dr. Sidman was responsible for developing novel servomechanical technology for disk drives and founded DEC's Servo-Mechanical Advanced Development Group. The Adaptive Runout Correction System (ARCS) developed by Dr. Sidman in 1977-78 is considered to be the first use of digital signal processing in a disk drive. Dr. Sidman also pioneered and demonstrated active shock and vibration correction using angular accelerometer feedback and the use of high bandwidth actively damped head positioning microactuators in HDDs. Dr. Sidman is a Senior Member of the IEEE and Past Section Chair of the ASME and has been a Third Party Provider for The MathWorks since 1994. He founded his engineering consulting business in 1989.