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3rd IFAC Workshop on Internet Based Control Education 3rd IFAC Internet Based November 4-6, 2015.on Brescia, Italy 3rd IFAC Workshop Workshop on Internet Based Control Control Education Education 3rd IFAC on Internet Based Control 3rd IFAC Workshop Workshop on Internet BasedAvailable Control Education Education November 4-6, 2015. Brescia, Italy online at www.sciencedirect.com November 4-6, 2015. Brescia, Italy November 4-6, 2015. Brescia, Italy November 4-6, 2015. Brescia, Italy

ScienceDirect IFAC-PapersOnLine 48-29 (2015) 059–064

An Industry Sponsored Video Course for Control Engineering Practitioners An Industry Sponsored Video Course for Control Engineering Practitioners An An Industry Sponsored Video Course for Control Engineering Practitioners An Industry Industry Sponsored Sponsored Video Video Course Course1 for for Control Control2,3Engineering Engineering Practitioners Practitioners

Kevin Starr1, Margret Bauer2,3, 1 2,3 , Margret Bauer , Kevin Starr Starr 2 1 2,3 Kevin Alexander HorchBauer 1,, Margret 2,3,, Kevin Starr Starr Bauer 2 , Margret Margret Bauer , Kevin 2 Alexander Horch 2 Alexander Horch  2 Alexander Horch Alexander Horch  1  ABB Inc., Westerville, CO 80305 1  1ABB Inc., Westerville, CO 1 ABB Inc., Westerville, CO 80305 80305 USA (Tel: +1 614 818 6394; e-mail: [email protected]). 1ABB Inc., Westerville, CO ABB Inc., Westerville, CO 80305 80305 USA (Tel: +1 614 818 6394; e-mail: [email protected]). 2 USA (Tel: +1 614 818 6394; e-mail: [email protected]). ABB Corporate Research, Wallstadter Str. 59, 68526 Ladenburg, Germany (e-mail: USA (Tel: +1 614 818 6394; e-mail: [email protected]). USA (Tel: +1 614 818 6394; e-mail: [email protected]). 222ABB Corporate Research,[email protected]) Wallstadter Str. Str. 59, 59, 68526 68526 Ladenburg, Ladenburg, Germany Germany (e-mail: (e-mail: Corporate Research, Wallstadter 2ABB ABB Corporate Research, Wallstadter Str. 59, 68526 ABB Corporate Research,[email protected]) Wallstadter Str. 59, 68526 Ladenburg, Ladenburg, Germany Germany (e-mail: (e-mail: 3 [email protected]) School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa (email: [email protected]) 3 [email protected]) 3 School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa (email: 3 University [email protected]) 3School School of of Electrical Electrical and and Information Information Engineering, Engineering, University of of the the Witwatersrand, Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Johannesburg 2050, 2050, South South Africa Africa (email: (email: School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa (email: [email protected]) [email protected]) [email protected]) [email protected]) Abstract: Video lectures are finding their way into education – there are numerous advantages and they Abstract: lectures are their way education there numerous advantages and Abstract: Video lecturescontexts are finding finding their way into into education – informal there are are education. numerous Control advantages and they they can be usedVideo in different within formal, non-formal and– systems is a Abstract: Video lectures are their way education – there numerous advantages and Abstract: Video lecturescontexts are finding finding their way into into education – informal there are are education. numerous Control advantages and they they can be used in different within formal, non-formal and systems is can be used used in different different contexts within formal, from non-formal and informal informal education. 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The lecture lecture was developed by control practitioners for an audience does not have a strong engineering lecture on systems that by and available on The was lecture on control control systems that is is sponsored sponsored by ABB ABBthat and (1) available on YouTube. YouTube. The lecture lecture was developed by control practitioners for an audience does not have a strong engineering developed by control practitioners for an audience that (1) does not have a strong engineering backgroundby andcontrol (2) have an engineering background but not beennot shown the linkage engineering to the real developed practitioners for audience that (1) does have aa strong developed by control practitioners for an an audience but thathas (1)not does notshown have the strong engineering background and an background been background and (2) (2) have have an engineering engineering background but has hasand notthis been shown the linkage linkage to to the the real real world. The difference between formal control systems lectures course are discussed. background and (2) have an engineering background but has not been shown the linkage to background and (2) have an engineering background but hasand notthis been shown the linkage to the the real real world. The difference between formal control systems lectures course are discussed. world. The difference between formal control systems lectures and this course are discussed. world. The difference between formal control control systems lectures and this this course are discussed. world. difference between formal systems lectures and are discussed. © 2015,The IFAC (International Federation ofprocess Automatic Control) Hosting by course Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Control systems, education, control, automation, video lectures, online. Keywords: Control systems, education, process control, automation, video lectures, online. Keywords: Control systems, education, process control, automation, video lectures, online. Keywords: Control Control systems, systems, education, education, process process control, control, automation, automation, video video lectures, lectures, online. online. Keywords:   

1. INTRODUCTION 1. INTRODUCTION 1. 1. INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 1. INTRODUCTION Control engineering is a subject usually taught at Control engineering is usually taught at Control engineering is aaa subject subject usually taught and at undergraduate level to electrical, mechanical, industrial, Control engineering is usually taught at Control engineering is a subject subject usually taught and at undergraduate level to electrical, mechanical, industrial, undergraduate level to to electrical, electrical, mechanical, industrial, and chemical engineering students. Control systems take undergraduate level mechanical, industrial, and undergraduate level to electrical, mechanical, industrial, and chemical engineering students. Control systems take chemical engineering students. Control systems take mathematical theory relating to feedback control and applies chemical engineering students. Control systems take chemical engineering students. Control systems take mathematical theory relating to feedback control and applies mathematical theory relating to feedback control and applies it to any dynamic process, from automotive to industrial mathematical theory relating to feedback control and applies mathematical theory relating to feedback control and applies it to any any dynamic dynamic process, fromsystems automotive to industrial industrial it to process, from automotive to production application. Control in education has it to process, from automotive to it to any any dynamic dynamic process, fromsystems automotive to industrial industrial production application. Control in education has production application. Control systems in education has been comprehensively described by, for example, Kheir et production application. Control systems in education has production application.described Control systems in education has been comprehensively by, for example, Kheir et been comprehensively described by, for example, Kheir al., 1996. been comprehensively comprehensively described described by, by, for for example, example, Kheir Kheir et et been et al., 1996. al., al., 1996. 1996. al., 1996. In addition to formal education, non-formal education is In to non-formal is In addition addition more to formal formal education, non-formal education is becoming and education, more important in aeducation world of In to education, non-formal education is In addition addition more to formal formal education, non-formal education is becoming and more important in a world of becoming more more and more advancement. important in in Globalization a world world of of globalization and technical becoming and more important a becoming more and more important in a world of globalization and technical technical advancement. Globalization globalization and Globalization focuses on improved product advancement. and service quality, greater globalization and advancement. Globalization globalization and technical technical advancement. Globalization focuses on improved product and service quality, greater focuses on improved product and service quality, greater work responsibility and teamwork approaches (Merriam et focuses on improved product and service quality, greater focuses on improvedandproduct and approaches service quality, greater work responsibility teamwork (Merriam et work responsibility and teamwork approaches (Merriam et al., 2012). At the same time technology is advancing quickly work responsibility and teamwork approaches (Merriam et work responsibility andtime teamwork approaches (Merriam et al., 2012). At the same technology is advancing quickly al., 2012). At the same time technology is advancing quickly in all areas affecting industrial production. This together puts al., 2012). At the same time technology is advancing quickly al.,all 2012). At the same time technology is advancing quickly in areas affecting industrial production. This together puts in areas industrial This together puts an on training automation corporate in all allemphasis areas affecting affecting industrialinproduction. production. Thisby together puts in all areas affecting industrial production. This together puts an emphasis on training in automation by corporate an emphasis on training in automation by corporate companies in a non-formal education form. an emphasis emphasis on on training training in in automation automation by by corporate corporate an companies companies in in aaa non-formal non-formal education education form. form. companies education form. companies in ineducation a non-formal non-formal Non-formal caneducation be of a form. supplementary nature, Non-formal education can be of Non-formal education can be reaction of aaa supplementary supplementary nature, which means that it is “a quick to educational,nature, social Non-formal education can be of nature, Non-formal education can be reaction of a supplementary supplementary nature, which means that it is “a quick to educational, educational, social which means that it is “a quick reaction to social and economic needs because formal education is too slow in which means that it is “a quick reaction to educational, social which means that it isbecause “a quickformal reaction to educational, social and economic needs education is too slow in and economic needs because formal education is too slow in response (if it does in fact decide to respond) to those needs” and economic needs because formal education is too slow in and economic needsinbecause formal educationtoisthose too slow in response (if it does fact decide to respond) needs” response (if it does in fact decide to respond) to those needs” (Brennan et al, 1997). The course described in this paper is response (if it does in fact decide to respond) to those needs” response (if ital,does in fact decide todescribed respond) in to those needs” (Brennan et 1997). The course this paper is (Brennan et al, 1997). The course described in this paper is non-formal and supplementary, that is, many aspects are not (Brennan et al, 1997). The course described in this paper is (Brennan etand al, 1997). The course described in this paper is non-formal supplementary, that is, many aspects are not non-formal and supplementary, that is, many aspects are not covered by control systems courses taught at university level. non-formal and and supplementary, supplementary, that that is, is, many many aspects aspects are are not not non-formal covered by control systems courses taught at university level. covered covered by by control control systems systems courses courses taught taught at at university university level. level. covered control systems courses taught at level. With thebyadvance of internet technologies –university it is estimated With the advance of internet technologies – it is estimated With the of advance of internet internet technologies it is is estimated estimated that 40% the world population has an internet With the advance of technologies ––– it With the of advance of internet technologies it isconnection estimated that 40% world has internet 1 that 40% of the the lectures world population population has an an internet connection connection – video have become widespread for use in today that 40% of the world population has an internet connection 11 that 40% of the world population has an internet connection – video videoRecently, lectures have have becomeofwidespread widespread for use in in today 11 – lectures become for use today the classroom. the concept the flipped classroom – video lectures have become widespread for use today – videoRecently, lectures have becomeofwidespread use in in today the classroom. classroom. the concept concept the flipped flipped for classroom the Recently, the of the classroom the the classroom. classroom. Recently, Recently, the the concept concept of of the the flipped flipped classroom classroom 1 1 1 1 1

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has been introduced. Herreid et al. (2013) explain the essence has been introduced. Herreid et al. al. What (2013)isexplain explain the done essence has been introduced. Herreid et (2013) the essence of the flipped classroom model: normally in has been introduced. Herreid et (2013) the essence has been introduced. Herreid et al. al. What (2013)isexplain explain the done essence of the flipped classroom model: normally in of the flipped classroom model: What is normally done in class and what is normally done as homework is switched or of the flipped classroom model: What is normally done in of theand flipped classroom model: What is normally done or in class what is normally done as homework is switched class and what is normally done as homework is switched or flipped. Often, the flipped classroom experience is equated class and what is normally done as homework is switched or class andOften, what isthenormally done as homework is switched or flipped. flipped classroom experience is equated flipped. flipped classroom experience is with the Often, use ofthe internet general and videos flipped. Often, the flippedtechnology classroom in experience is equated equated flipped. Often, the flipped classroom experience is equated with the use of internet technology in general and videos with the use of internet technology in general and specifically. with the the use use of of internet internet technology technology in in general general and and videos videos with videos specifically. specifically. specifically. specifically. Videos are sometimes ‘copies’ of the normal lecture. Wieling Videos are ‘copies’ of normal lecture. Videos are sometimes sometimes ‘copies’that of the the normaleither lecture. Wieling and Hofman (2010) showed attending theWieling lecture Videos are ‘copies’ of normal lecture. Wieling Videos are sometimes sometimes ‘copies’that of the the normaleither lecture. and Hofman (2010) showed attending theWieling lecture and Hofman (2010) showed that attending either the lecture in person or view the videos results in better performance of and Hofman (2010) showed that attending either the andperson Hofman (2010) showed that attending either the lecture lecture in or view the videos results in better performance of in person or view the videos results in better performance of the students. Further benefits of video lectures in the in person or view the videos results in better performance of in person or view the videos results invideo betterlectures performance of the students. Further benefits of in the the students. Further benefits of video lectures in the engineering context have been reported (Liu & Kender, 2004; the students. Further benefits of video lectures in the the students.context Further benefits of video lectures in2004; the engineering have been reported (Liu & Kender, engineering been reported (Liu & Kender, 2004; Mason et al.,context 2013). have engineering context have engineering context have been been reported reported (Liu (Liu & & Kender, Kender, 2004; 2004; Mason et al., 2013). Mason et al., 2013). Mason et et al., al., 2013). 2013). Mason The quality and content of videos available online, most The quality and content of videos available online, most The quality and content videos available online, most varies significantly. dominantly YouTube The quality on and content22, of of videos available These online,online most The quality and content of videos available online, most 2 , varies significantly. These online dominantly on YouTube 2, variestosignificantly. These online dominantly ongrouped YouTube videos can be according the following criteria 2 , varies significantly. These online dominantly on YouTube , varies significantly. These online dominantly on YouTube videos videos can can be be grouped grouped according according to to the the following following criteria criteria videos can be according to criteria videos be grouped grouped Filmed accordinglectures, to the the following following criteria with  can Realization: presentations  Realization: Filmed lectures, presentations with Realization: Filmed lectures, lectures, presentations with voice overs, animations, or a combination thereof.  Realization: Filmed presentations with Realization: Filmed lectures, presentations with voice overs, animations, or a combination thereof. voice overs, overs, animations, animations, or or aa combination combination thereof. thereof. voice voice overs, animations, or a combination thereof.  Designation of presenter: Academic institution,  Designation Designation of presenter: presenter: Academic institution, institution, of Academic industrial institution, private person.  Designation of Academic Designation of presenter: presenter: Academic institution, institution, industrial institution, institution, private person. person. industrial private industrial private person. industrial institution, institution, private person.  Technical quality: Sound, camera.  Technical Technical quality: quality: Sound, Sound, camera. camera.  Technical quality: Sound, camera. Technical camera. There are several quality: obviousSound, benefits and disadvantages of There are several obvious benefits and disadvantages of There are several obvious benefits and of online lectures. The key benefit is that the disadvantages learner can view There are several obvious benefits and disadvantages of There are several obvious benefits and disadvantages of online lectures. The key benefit is that the learner can view online lectures. The key benefit is that the learner can view the video lecture preferred time, online lectures. The keya benefit is the learner can view online lectures. The at benefit is that that the place learnerand can most view the video video lecture atkeyaapace. preferred time, place and most the lecture at preferred time, place and most importantly at her own Videos allow pausing and rethe video lecture at a preferred time, place and most the video lecture at apace. preferred time, place andandmost importantly at her own Videos allow pausing reimportantly at pace. allow pausing replaying which is own crucial effective A key importantly at her her own pace.forVideos Videos allowlearning. pausing and and reimportantly at her own pace. Videos allow pausing and replaying which is crucial for effective learning. A key playing is for effective learning. A disadvantage is that the learner interrupt the lecture to playing which which is crucial crucial forcannot effective learning. A key key playing which is crucial for effective learning. A key disadvantage isand that the learner learner cannot interrupt the lecture to disadvantage is that the cannot interrupt the lecture to ask questions discuss the lecture with peers during class disadvantage is that the learner cannot interrupt the lecture to disadvantage isand thatdiscuss the learner cannotwith interrupt the lecture to ask questions the lecture peers during class ask questions questions and discuss discuss the lecture lecture with peers peers during class class ask ask questions and and discuss the the lecture with with peers during during class 2 2 2 2 2

https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en/statistics.html https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en/statistics.html https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en/statistics.html https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en/statistics.html https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en/statistics.html

Copyright 2015 IFAC 59 Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 2405-8963 © 2015, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Copyright ©under 2015 responsibility IFAC 59 Control. Peer review© of International Federation of Automatic Copyright 2015 IFAC 59 Copyright © 2015 IFAC 59 Copyright © 2015 IFAC 59 10.1016/j.ifacol.2015.11.213

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breaks. However, these difficulties can be easily overcome with the flipped classroom concept.

control engineering education. Also, any undergraduate student with access to the internet cannot blame ‘poor lecturing skills’ for not understanding parts of the subject.

The internet offers more than video lectures. For example, a control tutorial is offered in Matlab and Simulink 3 by academic institutions. Control system experts from Emerson have published a website that provides workshop material with process industries applications4, which is supported by videos.

3. NON-FORMAL CONROL ENGINEERING EDUCATION In education, there are two strong movements observed in recent years (Jarvis et al., 2003): (1) from theoretical to practical and (2) from single discipline to multidisciplinary to integrated knowledge. The latter is particularly true for control engineering, as described by Murray and co-workers (2003): “Increasingly, the modern control engineer is put in the role of being a systems engineer, responsible for linking the many elements of a complex product or system. This requires not only a solid grounding in the framework and tools of control, but also the ability to understand the technical details of a wide variety of disciplines, including physics, chemistry, electronics, computer science, and operations research.”

In this paper, we review video lectures available in control engineering which act as a support for control engineering courses. In addition, we will investigate material available to control engineering practitioners in continued education and training-on-the-job. The main contribution of this paper is to describe the purpose, contents and methodology of the online video lectures presented by an industrial supplier and which describes control engineering education from the practitioner’s point of view. The technical realization of the videos and the targeted audience are presented. Lastly, the differences between control engineering for undergraduate students and control engineering for practitioners used in training-on-the-job are discussed.

Control engineering is taught at undergraduate level within almost exclusively engineering disciplines, most commonly within electrical, mechanical, chemical and industrial engineering. Because of these traditional department structures of today, control is typically only a small aspect of any curriculum. It is usually difficult to change the contents and structure of control courses so that necessary changes that are required by the two movements cannot be accommodated.

2. VIDEO LECTURES IN CONTROL ENGINEERING Videos explaining the fundamentals of control are ubiquitous but vary dramatically in quality. However, in this day and age with internet search functions available, helpful material can be easily identified. Tab. 1 gives a list of undergraduate control courses that enjoy a popularity and which will be referred to when comparing the industry sponsored video lectures described in this paper. Screenshots of the videos are shown in Fig. 1 to give a feeling of the presentation type. Three of these four courses are by academic lecturers who made their material available online while the most successful lectures – in terms of views – is produced for the purpose of video lectures only by an extremely talented and successful control practitioner. It is noteworthy that all video lectures in Tab. 1 have been placed online in the last three years. This is in accordance with the trend to move higher education to YouTube and social networks (Gilroy, 2010).

Because of the shift from theory to practice and the integration of knowledge, teaching control systems by practitioners has a different flavour as well as urgency. Engineering in general and control engineering in particular is tightly bound to applications and practice. All in all, it is important to tailor control courses to an experienced audience who have domain knowledge but no necessary previous exposure to control systems. Sometimes, engineers and technicians may have attended a control course as part of their first education many years ago. In some cases, this experience may have had a negative connotation. All three authors of this paper are control engineering educators and have found that even technically inclined

The abundance of online material which is freely available speaks for the concept of the flipped classroom to be used in

Table 1. Control systems fundamental video series available on the internet. The videos can be found on YouTube by searching for the names of the presenters, adding the search item ‘control’. No 1 2 3 4

3 4

Presenter Brian Douglas Benjamin Drew James K. Roberg Anthony Rossiter

Affiliation Planetary Resources, USA University of the West of England, UK MIT USA University of Sheffield, UK

Description Designed video lectures with pen tables for drawing text and images and Photoshop software Filmed lecture with projector style presentation

Year 2012 2014

Views 2,000100,000 100-300

Filmed lecture with chalk on board presentation, 2013 3,000produced professionally in 1985 (1985) 50,000 Power point lectures with voice over, built on university 2013 300-4,000 course offering (Rossiter, 2013; Rossiter, 2014). professionals may view control systems as intimidating.

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1

2

3

4

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Fig. 1. Example screenshots of control systems courses of Tab. 1. The motivation for the videos was 1) make the course content available to a wider audience 2) make the course content available to the attendants of the training who wanted to refresh their experience. As a result, the intended audience is as broad as the platform YouTube – basically anyone with an interest in automation. This can range from an undergraduate student wanting to know about the industry relevant bits of control to a process operator with the motivation to understand loop tuning.

4. INDUSTRY SPONSORED CONTROL SYSTEMS VIDEO LECUTRES Large and small control engineering companies alike recognize the need to train and further educate their own staff as well as potential customers. Many companies offer courses to their customers and clients which are held by experienced staff and practitioners. ABB for example, provides ABB University which is a platform that trains customers mainly on ABB products both online and in courses help by ABB experts.

4.1 Course contents

Distinctively, generic topics such as control engineering are also offered by ABB as taught courses and recently also as online lectures. These video lectures originate from taught courses which the principal author of this paper started giving in the 1990s. Since then, the content has been changed, expanded and refined. Originally, the lectures were held based on and supported by a book of the same title that proved to be extremely popular with the course attendants. The book is broken down into chapters that target tuning aspects.

The course deals with control systems but is very different from control systems taught at undergraduate level. It fills the gap between control theory taught at university level and the “real” world found where – at least most of the time – no process models are available, processes are slow and nonlinear and step tests are not permissible. The link from theoretical to practice is often missed. The course is based on 25+ years of experience in control tuning, deployment and design. It addresses challenges that are encountered by people working in control in the process industries.

The video lectures are all presented by the principal author of this paper, Kevin Starr and were produced with the support of a team of control engineering experts. The videos are part of a larger series produced by ABB Service that include other automation topics such as lifecycle services, optimization and statistical analysis. Nevertheless the course as such forms an entity.

The table of contents of the course is listed in Tab. 2. There are 14 video lectures in total which cover nine chapters. Each of the 14 videos had been watched several hundred times within the first six months. There’s a decline in views after the original chapter, possibly because these interest most and capture the widest audience but probably also because the attention span and perseverance of an online audience is somewhat limited. 61



Table 2. Table of content of video lectures No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Chapter Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Content Preface Control introduction Control terminology Process Identification Part 1 Process identification Part 2 Feedback controllers Part 1 Feedback controllers part 2 Feedback controllers Part 3 Feedback controllers Part 4 Control tuning Tank level tuning Dealing with dead time Cyclic Reduction Control loop nonlinearity

Views5 1112 1757 1040 1356 739 565 539 400 429 688 708 204 304 300

Fig. 2. Modelling or process identification using a step test or “bump test” for practitioners. mathematical description but with a visual representation of possible step responses, see Fig. 2. A person trained in control systems would be able to write down the equations in the time and Laplace frequency domain but this rather distracts from the concept to be conveyed. Process related application examples are given for the process dynamics, such as a tank being filled for the integrating behaviour (fifth curve from the top).

The course is structured like many undergraduate courses. After the introduction to control problems and terminology the course covers process identification or modelling, feedback control and tuning. It then deals with common problems encountered in the real world such as dead time, oscillation cycles and process nonlinearities. Although the course syllabus is similar to many academic lectures the course itself is very different. For one, most control academics would agree that control systems is a subject which involves many mathematical equations. Inspecting the screenshots of the online video lectures in Fig. 1 exhibits the prevalence of mathematical formulas. The video lectures focus on concepts and explain the impact of equations. The mathematical formulations are ‘blurred out’. It is important to highlight that the content is geared towards an audience wanting to apply control to the process industries. This means that the presenter can focus on process control and relevant methodologies.

The second important aspect of process identification is to consider whether the process is self-regulating or non-self regulating. In most textbooks this is referred to stability. Considering that regulating and control are closely related terms it becomes evident that self-regulating systems will be easier to control. 4.3: Example 2: Feedback loop Since more than 90% of the industrial control loops are feedback controllers the course mainly deals with those.

In the following, we will explain the difference between a practitioners approach to learning and an academic approach three examples taken from the video lecture, namely process modelling or identification, the feedback loop and tuning. This comparison is used to explain the gap between theory and practice and discussed in Section 5.

(a)

4.2: Example 1: Process identification Process identification which in most academic courses is referred to as process modelling. First principles are excluded, instead the focus is on practical methods that work in industry. Process identification or modelling is about the response of the process to a likely input such as the change of an actuator. (b)

The course leads up to tuning PID control loops and this is stressed throughout the videos. For example, knowledge of the process dynamics is required to find correct tuning settings. Again, dynamics are explained without any 5

Fig. 3. Feedback control loop as (a) described in textbook (Source: Wikipedia) and (b) in the video lecture described in this paper.

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In most textbooks on feedback control, the control loop is represented as shown in Fig. 3 (a). The starting point is the feedback comparison leading to the measured error and the controller. In the control video course, the most noticeable item is the process as shown in Fig 3 (b) which lies on top of the controller which takes centre stage.

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between August and December 2014. The videos can be found by, for example, searching for ‘kevin starr abb’ on YouTube or Google. All videos are presented in the same fashion with the principal author, Kevin Starr, on the right and the presentation on the left. Intermittently, the presentation is blended in as full screen, see Fig. 4.

In the practitioners course the key aspect of a feedback controller is the ‘attribute of an error’ of a step change. This makes a lot of sense for the practitioner because in practice, the controller acts on the error and the error usually arises when a step change is applied to the setpoint. Attributes here are the magnitude of the error, the duration of the error and the rate of change of the error. All these attributes are used to define the PID controller.4.4 Example 3: Tuning

To produce the videos a mix of prosumer and basic video equipment was used. To be specific, the shoots were done with a Sony FS100, Rode shotgun microphones, LED light panels and mix of basic materials like a green screen and tripods. The majority of the video presentations are done in front of a green screen and edited in post-production to give the effect of being in a studio. No professional studio was used but instead the most was made of the office space available, such as using an open conference room. Enough space is needed to fit a green screen, lighting and sound equipment. However many interviews are done where ever space is available.

In the tuning section, the purpose of the course becomes most evident: The aim is not to understand control fundamentals but to apply it and use it. It starts off by saying that for a desired first order, no overshoot closed loop response the direct synthesis tuning method should be applied. Helpfully, it is pointed out that this method is also referred to as lambda tuning or pole placement tuning. If a one quarter wave decay response is desired, then Ziegler-Nichols tuning is advisable. This procedure is made for a person who actually has to tune the control of a system and issues such as doing bump tests on open and closed loop systems are carefully discussed.

All post production was done on a high end HP editing computer with Adobe Premiere Pro. A professional videographer was engaged who has produced YouTube sports videos with well over 10million viewers. This combination of technical knowledge and production skills

The course evolved in this way because people were tuning by feel, basically guessing, then hoping the loop would stop oscillating. Some plant engineers and managers, however, will not allow to “tune” their system by this approach. The requirement is that the system cannot be touched until a prediction on how the tuning parameters will impact on the process is made. This request gave the motivation to link theory and practice and helps the audience to quickly setup and commission control systems.

Table 3. Comparison of academic and industrial lectures Goal

Audience

4.5 Technical realisation of online videos The videos were made for an intranet, that is, company internal online channel called ABB TV. The videos were sub sequentially released on the online video platform YouTube

Motivation

Approach

Fig. 4. Screenshot of online video lecture.

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Academic Teaching the use of principles and tools of feedback control for all branches of engineering and beyond Undergraduate students at university or technical college level with no prior control engineering experience, often from various disciplines (incl. biological and physical sciences) Fulfilling curriculum requirements of degree; acquiring information and learning how to use information and knowledge in new situations Derive underlying mathematical fundamentals to allow further development of control system technology, generic problem definition and solving

Industry Educating about the use of process control with industrial application and relevance Practitioners with industrial experience but without formal control background; Graduate students with academic training but no or little industry exposure. Training staff and customers; enabling more efficient and further reaching working skills Driven by problem solving, real world applications, placing topics into context, explaining concepts as well as conventions in plain language



and insights enable telling technical stories with video very effectively.

All authors of this paper have taught control engineering to several hundred people over the years. In the authors’ experience it is true today that students at college and university use Google and YouTube as their main resource of learning. If something is not available on these platforms, most students will not discover it on their own. The video lectures are a valuable resource that can be accessed by anyone with an interest in control systems.

The majority of the videos are based on presentations that have been presented before so adapting them to a video came quite naturally. In this sense, the course corresponded to most of the filmed lectures listed in Tab. 2. 5 DISCUSSION

REFERENCES

Both academic and industrial control engineering lectures have a different focus. An industrial video lecture was described in this paper and we presented a brief overview of other control systems video lectures, see Tab. 1.

Anderson, T. (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. Athabasca University Press.Brennan, J., De Vries, P., & Williams, R. (Eds.). (1997). Standards and quality in higher education (No. 37). Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Gilroy, M. (2010). Higher education migrates to YouTube and social networks. Education Digest, 75(7), 18-22. Herreid, C. F., & Schiller, N. A. (2013). Case studies and the flipped classroom. Journal of College Science Teaching, 42(5), 62-66. Jarvis, P., Holford, J., & Griffin, C. (2003). The theory & practice of learning. Psychology Press. Kheir, N. A., Åström, K. J., Auslander, D., Cheok, K. C., Franklin, G. F., Masten, M., & Rabins, M. (1996). Control systems engineering education. Automatica, 32(2), 147-166. Liu, T., & Kender, J. R. (2004, December). Lecture videos for e-learning: Current research and challenges. In Multimedia Software Engineering, 2004. Proceedings. IEEE Sixth International Symposium on (pp. 574-578). IEEE. Mason, G. S., Shuman, T. R., & Cook, K. E. (2013). Comparing the effectiveness of an inverted classroom to a traditional classroom in an upper-division engineering course. IEEE Transactions on Education, 56(4), 430435. Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2012). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide. John Wiley & Sons. Murray, R. M., Astrom, K. J., Boyd, S. P., Brockett, R. W., & Stein, G. (2003). Future directions in control in an information-rich world. IEEE Control Systems Magazine, 23(2), 20-33. Rossiter, A. (2013, August). Using online lectures to support student learning of control engineering. In Advances in Control Education (Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 132-137). Rossiter, J. A. (2014, August). Lecture flipping for control engineers. 19th IFAC World Congress, August 24-29, Cape Town, South Africa 2014. Wieling, M. B., & Hofman, W. H. A. (2010). The impact of online video lecture recordings and automated feedback on student performance. Computers & Education, 54(4), 992-998.

An overview of the difference between academic and industrial lectures is given in Tab. 3. When comparing the goals, motivations and audiences, it becomes clear that control systems taught at university and industry level are complementary. University courses teach the mathematical fundamentals of control which make control such a farreaching field since it can be applied to any dynamic process. Industry courses focus on a specific application control – in the case of the lectures described in this paper the focus lies on the process industries, such as chemical, metals or paper production. Most students which attend control engineering classes will not work in control. However, they require the fundamental understanding and problem definition and solving skills. Attendants of the industrial course are practitioners who are faced with control problems on a day-to-day basis and require direct answers and solutions. 6 CONCLUSIONS In this paper we described video lectures that cover a practitioners approach to control systems. The course is aimed at an audience with some experience in control – either from a theoretical view point through control systems fundamentals or as a practitioner who had to deal with control but has no formal education in control. The course therefore describes non-formal education that ordinarily would have taken place at a corporate training facility. The mathematical formulas are kept to an absolute minimum. For students with a background in control fundamentals the course fills the gap between theory and application. The focus is on process control for which key terminology is introduced. It therefore forms the basis of the arguably most important part of automation, the control of the process. The course can therefore be a valuable addition to formal control engineering education to prepare graduates for the work place. This could be achieved by flipping the classroom and letting the students watch the video course in their own time, then discussing the course in class.

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