In this tutorial we will introduce a simple, yet versatile, feedback compensator structure: the Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller. The PID controller is widely employed because it is very understandable and because it is quite effective. One attraction of the PID controller is that all engineers understand conceptually differentiation and integration, so they can implement the control system even without a deep understanding of control theory. Further, even though the compensator is simple, it is quite sophisticated in that it captures the history of the system (through integration) and anticipates the future behavior of the system (through differentiation). We will discuss the effect of each of the PID parameters on the dynamics of a closed-loop system and will demonstrate how to use a PID controller to improve a system’s performance.
Key MATLAB commands used in this tutorial are: tf , step , pid , feedback , pidtune