Course syllabus

Course-PM

SSY251 SSY251 Applied control system design lp2 HT25 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the Department of Electrical Engineering

 

Contact details

• Lecturers for Control System Design:
  • Changfu Zou (changfu.zou@chalmers.se)
  • Albert Skegro (skegro@chalmers.se)
• Lecturer for Information Literacy:
  • Beate Granström (beate.granstrom@chalmers.se) 
• Lecturers for Technical Writing: 
  • Carina Sjöberg-Hawke (carsjobe@chalmers.se)
  • Astrid Liedholm (astridli@chalmers.se)
• Teaching assistant:
  • Godwin K. Peprah (godwinp@chalmers.se)
• Administrator at E2:
  • Alexandra Gillenbrant Stridsberg (studadm.e2@chalmers.se) or (alegill@chalmers.se), Floor 3, EDIT building, Hörsalsvägen 11

• Student Representatives (to be confirmed):
  • Vilhelm Adermark (vilhelm@adermark.se)
  • Mahamad Mahdy Al Remawi (mahdy.al.remawi@gmail.com)
  • Jonas Devantéry (jonas.devantery@epfl.ch)
  • Paula Mundó Comerma (paula.mundo@estudiantat.upc.edu)                  
  • Emil Skaug (abbeem12@gmail.com)

 

Course purpose

To give theoretical and practical knowledge in dynamic modelling, system identification, state estimation, and feedback controller design. Special focus is on state-space models and simulation as well as on components in computer-based control systems. See more on See more on Studieportalen.

 

Course literature

This course will not exactly follow one single literature book. Any relevant literature will be explicitly suggested and shared for individual lectures (see lecture slides). Some of them are listed here as an example:

[1] Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers. Karl Johan Åström and Richard M. Murray, Princeton University Press, 2008. PDF available at LINK.

[2] Advanced PID control. Karl-Johan Åström and Tore Hägglund, 2006. Available as an ebook at Chalmers LibraryLinks to an external site. Login to get access. Recommended reading Chapters 1-3 for Lectures 2 and 3.

[3] Optimal State Estimation: Kalman, H_infty, and Nonlinear Approaches (Chapters 3 and 5). Dan Simon, John Wiley & Sons, 2006. PDF available at [LSQ estimation of a constant Download LSQ estimation of a constant] and [Discrete-time KF Download Discrete-time KF]

 

Schedule

All the time slots and rooms can be found in the file SSY251 Course Schedule for 2025-2026.pdf (with my comments) as well as at TimeEdit.

 

Scheduled activities for the control systems design are as follows:

Content	Week	Lecture	Exercises	Labs	Q&A
Introduction, PID	w45	L1, L2	Ex1, Ex2
PID in PLC, Cascade Control, State-Space Modelling	w46	L3, L4	Ex3, Ex4
Simulation and Analysis	w47	L5	Ex5 (CL1)	HL (Students in Groups 1-8)
Machine Learning	w48	L6	Ex6	HL (Students in Groups 9-20)
Machine Learning, Estimation	w49	L7, L8, L9	Ex7 (CL2), Ex8, Ex9 (CL3)	HL (Re-sit)
State Feedback Control	w50	L10, L11	Ex10, Ex11
State Feedback Control, Course Overview	w51	L12, L13	Ex12 (CL4)		Q&A

Legend: Lecture (L), Exercise session (Ex), Computer Lab (CL), Hardware Lab (HL).

NB:

• HLs are mandatory to attend, and you only need to participate in one of them based on your joined group.
• Ex and CLs are not mandatory but highly encouraged to attend.
• Each CL will end up with a report. Each group can select 3 out of the four CLs and is mandatory to submit 3 reports in total. 
• For most lectures, there will be in-class quizzes. Answering them correctly can earn you bonus points, with 0.5 points available per lecture. These bonus points will be added to your final exam score.

 

Scheduled activities for Information Literacy and Scientific Writing are as follows:

Content	Week
SW1	w46
IL (students assigned to Lecture 1)	w47
IL (students assigned to Lecture 2)	w48
SW2	w49
SW3	w51

Legend: Scientific Writing (SW), Information Literacy (IL)

NB: All SW sessions are mandatory. Every student must participate in one of the two IL sessions based on your joined group. 

 

Deadlines for CL submissions and final SW submissions are as follows:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
w47					SW1
w48					CL1
w49
w50					CL2
w51					CL3
w52
w1(2026)	SW2				CL4

 

 

Hardware lab sessions

There are six repeatedly scheduled hardware lab sessions, and you only need to book one of them. Please aim to book one of the early sessions to ensure space is available for a re-sit session in case someone misses or doesn't pass the first attempt.

• Lab Session 1: for students assigned to Groups 1-4
• Lab Session 2: for students assigned to Groups 5-8
• Lab Session 3: for students assigned to Groups 9-12
• Lab Session 4: for students assigned to Groups 13-16
• Lab Session 5: for students assigned to Groups 17-20
• Lab Session 6: for those students who cannot make it for early sessions. 

 

Examination

• Passed hardware and computer labs.
• Passed Scientific Writing assignments.
• Passed written exam: Grade 3 (40-60%), 4 (60-80%), 5 (80-100%). It is a traditional paper exam, rather than a digital one.

 

Changes made since the last occasion

There are no major changes to the course. Lectures will be slightly changed, but cover the same topics.