Flashcards: Control theory

In electrical engineering and control theory, a Bode plot /ˈboʊdi/ is a graph of the frequency response of a system.

Negative feedback occurs when some function of the output of a system, process, or mechanism is fed back in a manner that tends to reduce the fluctuations in the output, whether caused by changes in the input or by other disturbances.

Positive feedback is a process that occurs in a feedback loop in which the effects of a small disturbance on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the perturbation.

Damping is an influence within or upon an oscillatory system that has the effect of reducing, restricting or preventing its oscillations.

Decision theory (or the theory of choice) is the study of the reasoning underlying an agent's choices.

Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop.

Kalman filtering, also known as linear quadratic estimation (LQE), is an algorithm that uses a series of measurements observed over time, containing statistical noise and other inaccuracies, and produces estimates of unknown variables that tend to be more precise than those based on a single measurement alone, by using Bayesian inference and estimating a joint probability distribution over the variables for each timeframe.

In physics, resonance is a phenomenon in which a vibrating system or external force drives another system to oscillate with greater amplitude at a specific preferential frequency.

In signal processing, the impulse response, or impulse response function (IRF), of a dynamic system is its output when presented with a brief input signal, called an impulse.

Process control is an engineering discipline that deals with architectures, mechanisms and algorithms for maintaining the output of a specific process within a desired range.

A Bellman equation, named after its discoverer, Richard Bellman, also known as a dynamic programming equation, is a necessary condition for optimality associated with the mathematical optimization method known as dynamic programming.

Microgrid is a localized grouping of electricity sources and loads that normally operates connected to and synchronous with the traditional centralized electrical grid (macrogrid), but can disconnect and function autonomously as physical and/or economic conditions dictate.

In mathematical optimization, ordinal optimization is the maximization of functions taking values in a partially ordered set ("poset").