CACSD tools for the control engineer [computer aided control systems design]

A typical control system design package can be divided into three components, input or data acquisition, algorithmic processing and output. The input structures usually contain facilities for the rapid change of system parameters so that the user can iteratively guide the solution to a point within an acceptable performance envelope by monitoring the output and using his experience and skill in the choice of appropriate compensation procedures. The requirements for data input and output are common to all such packages but each package has its own unique protocols, a situation which is neither efficient in the design process of the package itself or in its ultimate use by engineering personnel. It is clear that a general methodology for the implementation of input and output procedures in a wide range of design packages would be advantageous especially if such an implementation was specifically designed to be user friendly, hardware independent and based on an industrially accepted operating system