This course introduces the principles and practical applications of MATLAB for system analysis, automotive control technology, and ACC/CA, with a particular focus on control technology, which is gaining attention in the broad field of mechanical engineering.
Mechanical engineering covers a wide range of fields. When most people think of mechanical engineering, they think of automobiles, ships, heavy machinery, and plants, but there are many other areas where mechanical engineering is utilized. I’d like to give you a brief introduction to the field of controls, which has recently gained a lot of attention.
As part of my major in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, I have a course called ‘System Analysis’. The whole idea of this class is to look at the machine we are dealing with as a system and find the relationship between the inputs and outputs. We create a mathematical relationship between the inputs and outputs, and enter the relationship into a program called MATLAB. MATLAB is a program that makes numerical analysis easy, and we can visualize the phenomenon we want to observe by entering a complex relationship and graphing the distribution of the output value against the input value.
Let’s apply this to a car. The inputs would be the driver’s steering wheel movements, the accelerator pedal, and the brakes. The outputs would be the engine’s power (acceleration), the car’s speed, and the car’s position over time. By obtaining the input-output relationships through MATLAB, including the interactions of all the parts in the car, their masses and resistances, we can simulate the car’s movement in response to the driver’s actions. This is the basics of automotive control.
Now, let’s imagine applying this technology to a real-world situation. For example, suppose an obstacle suddenly appears in front of the driver of a car. If the driver is slow to react, it could immediately lead to an accident. If an infrared sensor is placed in front of the car and predicts a collision based on the relative speed and current distance from the object in front of it, the program can assess the situation and brake itself before the human driver does, preventing the accident entirely.
Many automakers are actively researching this type of control technology. For example, Tesla’s autonomous driving system already uses advanced control techniques to enable automatic driving on highways, automatic lane changes, and intersection navigation. Beyond just providing convenience, these technologies are also helping to reduce many of the risks associated with driving.
Adaptive Cruise Control and Collision Avoidance (ACC/CA) is a program that automatically navigates the road while adjusting the distance to the car in front of it. In this case, the inputs and outputs are similar to those described above, but the distance to the car in front of it (the output) is again the input signal to adjust the accelerator and brake. As a result, the driver only needs to set the desired destination, and the car calculates the distance to the sensors on the road and the car in front of it, and repeats the process of driving itself. The driver doesn’t need to do anything other than set the destination, and the car gets there with ease.
These technologies can also be useful in everyday life. For example, they can reduce driver fatigue in complex traffic situations in urban centers, help drivers stay focused when driving long distances, and even play a role in reducing traffic accidents, which is a huge societal benefit.
While science fiction movies allow us to imagine things that are often impossible with our current physical understanding, such as a car that travels through the air, control technologies such as ACC/CA described above are closer to reality than ever before. The development of the machines themselves is helpful for the advancement of scientific civilization, but with the support of these control fields, their usefulness will be even greater. With more research and development, control technologies will make our lives more convenient and safer.
