Control Systems

As equipment and systems become more complex and sophisticated, the problems of control by human operators become more difficult. With a modern aircraft, for example, the quantity of data and the rate at which it must bę assimilated, processed and acted on, is such that the pilot frequently cannot cope, and he may have to hand over part of his function to some sort of automatic control system. Properly designed, this will operate faster, more accurately and more reliably than the pilot, and without fatigue. Modern industrial processes and production techniques often require continuous vigilance and entail boring repetitive jobs, where a small human-error may lead to very expensive consequences. Such functions can also often be taken over by automatic control systems, to give higher outputs of a more consistent quality and with increased safety.