Toward Broader Education in Control System Design for Mechanical Engineers: Actuation System Selection and Controller Co-design

Control system design education for mechanical engineers, in its current form, focuses primarily on control algorithm design. We argue here that control system design is performed best when it is broadened to include requirements development and actuation system design, to be performed jointly with design of the control algorithm. We review practices in specifying control system performance and capabilities of actuation technologies for control applications. An existing unifying framework for representing actuation system capabilities and their selection for applications of interest is presented and assessed. Developments needed for an improved methodology for actuation system selection are enumerated. First, actuator comparison must be extended to include system-level characterization of performance. Second, mechanical actuation applications should be classified in more generic terms and application requirements framed accordingly. Third, compilation of performance characteristics for actuators and actuation systems need to be more comprehensive and better linked to underlying technological limitations.