Part-3 : Controlling a Mechanical System

This is the third post in my series on control systems. In part-1 we explored what the differential equations can do for you and how to make use of a differential equation, particular the Euler-Lagrange equations to describe a mechanical system. In part-2, we derived these differential equations for our 'pendulum on a cart' system. …

Part-2 : Simulating a Mechanical System with Differential Equations

This is my second part in a built-up towards understanding and implementing a real world control system. In my past post, I talked about differential equations.  The take home message from my last post was that, given a mechanical system and solving the free body diagram of it, we can get the differential equations describing …

Part-1 : Why should I study differential equations?

What's the point of studying differential equations? Can we not do away with them? I almost never see an application of those as a computer science or an ECE systems student. Is it like the analog systems, we study for the legacy reason. Can we not do away from differential equations. I used to side …