A low-cost feedback control systems laboratory setup via Arduino-Simulink interface

Control theory education, when supported by practice, becomes more comprehendible for students and useful for their professional career. This paper presents low-cost experiments for laboratory sessions of a feedback control systems course, which introduces them modeling feedback control systems, proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller design, root locus and Bode plots. The experiments are organized around the Arduino-based identification and control of a DC motor via Matlab/Simulink. The objective of this laboratory session is to support teaching feedback control systems via experimental investigations on a low-cost laboratory kit. The built in-house setups support Arduino-Simulink interface, so that students can download their control diagrams in Simulink to the Arduino board directly. This interface allows students to utilize high level control design tools, such as Matlab/Simulink while working on a low-cost hardware laboratory setup. Students' performance in the written exams before and after the laboratory setup were reported to evaluate the instructional effectiveness. Besides, student feedback for four semesters are also presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the laboratory experiments.