MOBILE APPLICATION (APP) DEVELOPMENT FOR IMPROVEMENT OF CONTROL ENGINEERING TEACHING

This paper presents the development of a mobile application for Android systems devices, that helps in the control system design task. The application allows to compute the parameters of PID-type controllers. The controlled process can be represented by a first-or second-order plus dead-time model and from that, the application tunes 1DoF (Degree of Freedom) PI and PID controllers for servo and regulatory control operation, and 2DoF PI and PID controllers, using methods presented in Alfaro and Vilanova (2012a,b). It is shown the use of the application tool where it is possible to evaluate benefits for the control systems undergraduate students. Taking into account the spread use of PID controllers in industrial applications it is very important that engineering undergraduate students get the necessary skills to handle this kind of control problems. In this sense, the developed tool helps the teaching-learning process to achieve this knowledge. The tool has been used by a significant quantity of students, receiving a positive feedback.