A Nonlinear Study of Compensatory Manual Control Systems

This study presents the results of a preliminary examination of the nonlinear characteristics of a closed-loop manual control system operated in the compensatory tracking mode. particular consideration is given to 1) nonlinearities of the closed-loop system resulting from inherent nonlinearities within the human operator and 2) the adaptive capabilities of the human operator in compensating for nonlinearities arising in the controlled process. Results indicate that low-order nonlinearities do not account for a substantial portion of the remnant and that a human operator is able to partially compensate for simple nonlinear controlled processes.