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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Category:
CDS 101/110 Fall 2004
Identifiers: H0 H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 L0.0 L1.1 L1.2 L2.1 L2.2 L2.3 L3.1 L3.2 L4.1 L4.2 L5.1 L5.2 L6.1 L7.1 L9.1
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What classes are available for students who want to take CS/EE/ME 75 and don't want to work on the DARPA Grand Challenge?
Submitted by: murray
Submitted on: September 29, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
There are several options available for students interested in takinga course on multi-disciplinary engineering but who are not interested in participated in the DARPA Grand Challenge.
Option 1: Ae/CDS 125abc - this class is a team-based space systems design class that focuses on similar issues to CS/EE/ME 75, but without the hands-on component. The prerequisites are basically the same as CDS 101/110 (Ma 1/2, Ph 1/2). This course is also open to graduate students.
Option 2: wait until a later year - while this year's project for CS/EE/ME 75 is the DARPA Grand Challenge, future projects are likely to vary from year to year. The project for next year has not been determined, but some possibilities including designing, building and launching an autonomous satellite, participating in a search and rescue competition, or building a powerless flight system (glider) that can fly across the Pacific Ocean.
Option 3: take an independent project course - this will miss the team-based aspects of the course, but some of the same educational objectives could be obtained by looking at a small multi-disciplinary project or interacting with an ongoing research project in an appropriate lab. Students interested in pursuing this path should discuss some of the courses and projects available with their faculty advisor.
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Slide 3 - How does the signal know whether to go to output or controller?
Submitted by: waydo
Submitted on: September 29, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
The signal actually goes to both the output and the controller. Block diagrams simply show the information flow schematically, so we can split and reroute signals arbitrarily on the diagram, even if the information is actually sent along different physical paths.
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Why can't we control voltage/resistance digitally?
Submitted by: waydo
Submitted on: September 29, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
Sometimes we can. At a very low level, however, virtually all physical devices are controlled by analog signals. It may be, for example, that we use a motor with a digital input, but then at some lower level within the motor there is probably a digital motor controller with an output that is then run through a D/A converter to produce an analog input to the motor. The goals of a particular control task will dictate whether we need to model this level of detail or whether we can view the motor as a purely digital device.
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Will we also learn how to analyze system performance (i.e. robustness, errors, etc)?
Submitted by: waydo
Submitted on: September 29, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
Definitely. We will look at performance in terms of design specifications in some detail, and cover the basic ideas behind robustness. Later courses in control present extremely powerful tools for evaluating the robustness of a system to uncertainty in terms of both stability and performance.
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Please clasify Prob#1 of Hw#1. Uncertainty of what? Is this uncertainty introduced by feedback mechanism?
Submitted by: jianghao
Submitted on: September 29, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
In nature, the real dynamics of a certain system usually evolve with time and are affected by all kinds of noise. Sometimes to simplify our analysis or achieve mathematical beauty, we just assume a static model for the system. Then the difference between the real dynamic model and the assumed static model accounts for the uncertainty in the open-loop system. Furthermore, even when the system does have static model, whether or not we use black box methods or model-based methods, the system models we estimate will have more or less error from the real ones. For example, in many cases, to simplify the analysis and design process, we substitute a much simpler model to the real one. Due to the existence of the above phenomenon, the designed control system must have some tolerance to this 'error', ie. the system should have good performance under not only the estimated model or system parameter, but also under the real system model or parameters (although many times unknown to some extent). The introduction of feedback is not to generate this uncertainty to the system, but instead, is to suppress the bad effect of original uncertainty inside the naked open system. In another word, close-loop system can monitor and regulate its behavior more smartly by the help of embeded controller.
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What recitation should I attend if I am an ACM major?
Submitted by: waydo
Submitted on: September 30, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
You should pick a recitation section based on what sounds interesting to you. Since your option doesn't push you strongly in one direction, you may want to try a couple of different recitations to see what interests you or what TA works best for you.
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What if only one section will be useful to me? (e.g. Biological processes for Bio grad)
Submitted by: waydo
Submitted on: September 30, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
This should be clear to us from the option you indicate on the scheduling form, but you can also write a note on the sheet to make it very clear. If you end up with a problem with your scheduled section let us know and we will try to accomodate you.
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Does each section have different exams, etc?
Submitted by: waydo
Submitted on: September 30, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
No, all sections will have the same exams. One of the great strengths of control theory is that the same mathematics can be used to describe a huge variety of problems just by changing words in the verbal problem description. The different recitation sections will cover exactly the same topics, just drawing examples from different application areas.
Some homeworks will include a set of problems from different application areas that you may choose from based on your interests, so to some extent the homework will be customized to your recitation.
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Is there any disadvantage to attending only one section?
Submitted by: waydo
Submitted on: September 30, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
No. All sections will cover the same material, so you should get the information you need from any of them. You are more than welcome to try attending different sections if you like, but it isn't necessary to succeed in the course.
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How much of the section is taught/run by the instructor? TA?
Submitted by: waydo
Submitted on: September 30, 2004
Identifier:
L1.2
The recitation sections will be entirely taught by the TA's. We meet weekly with the instructor to make sure the right material is covered, but the TA's will use their domain-specific expertise to create examples for their recitation sessions.
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