ELFT2400 Introduction to control systems Course description

The course provides basic knowledge of systems, units and functions in process control and industrial automation.

The thesis outline and the thesis are individual work. The thesis outline must be submitted the semester before thesis submission at the latest.

In addition to the compulsory seminars on research ethics, the students must participate in and submit work requirements for the 6 compulsory thesis seminars. The seminars require preparatory work in research methods, implementation strategies, article writing, and use of library services and search engines. Individual adaptations are dictated by the candidate’s chosen project. Students are advised to find a lab group to participate in.

Thesis supervision is compulsory. Students are assigned a field supervisor employed and trained for this purpose by the Department of Behavioral Science, with responsibility for students for the duration of the project. Field supervision is 40 hours per project, distributed according to agreement between student and supervisor. In addition, the Department of Behavioral Science provides back-up supervision as needed up to 20 hours per project. As the supervisor is formally responsible for the fulfilment of requirements by data protection authorities and ethics review boards, the thesis cannot be submitted without the written approval of the (main) supervisor.

As the thesis supervisor is formally responsible for the fulfilment of requirements by data protection authorities and ethics review boards, the thesis cannot be submitted without the written approval of the field supervisor.

In order to take the laboratory course in the course, an approved laboratory course in Dynamic Systems, ELTS2300, or equivalent qualifications is required.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student has basic knowledge of industrial instrumentation, control engineering and programming of programmable logic controllers, i.e.:

• intuitive control
• analysis of simple unit operations for control purposes
• process simulation
• PID controllers
• synthesis based on analyses of Bode plots
• multivariable control techniques
• systems design
• Kalman filtering
• building automation

Skills

The student is capable of:

• analysing systems with regard to systems design and control engineering, and automating large-scale and small-scale industrial processes

General competence

The student:

• has an overall, detailed understanding of the automation of industrial processes in a project-related and operations-technical perspective
• has insight into the operation of industrial processes and how this is implemented in an efficient, financially sound manner

Lectures and laboratory assignments are central in the teaching.

The following coursework is compulsory and must be approved before the student can sit the exam:

• 4 compulsory exercises, estimated time 4 hrs each
• 4 compulsory lab assignment estimated time 4 hrs each

Individual written exam, 3 hours

The exam result can be appealed.

The master’s program final exam is a written thesis in the form of an innovation project report with an executive summary. The thesis should describe a project based on best practice for the relevant field.

The 60 ECTS thesis for the specialisation in Innovation and Implementation will justify and describe an innovation project in an organization, whether public or private. The student must be in a position to suggest and implement the project, or the organization may request a particular project for the student to conduct. The thesis will describe all relevant factors in the change process, and include an evaluation of the results, including customer satisfaction. Needs assessment; choosing primary and secondary objectives; means and methods of change; implementation strategies; required resources, and results, must all be reported. The candidate must present an analysis of risk and success factors, and an analysis of ethical and legal concerns in the project.

Grade scale A-F.

On successful completion of the course, the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student can

• analyze and critically assess the scientific work of others

Skills

The student can

• demonstrate working knowledge of the ethical and technical principles that govern scientific research and publication, including international citation and reference standards
• demonstrate that they can plan, implement and evaluate a supervised innovation project in accordance with research ethics guidelines and regulations, and guidelines from relevant governmental bodies (i. e., The Norwegian Data Protection Authority, relevant Norwegian Research Ethics Committees and so on)
• choose and apply relevant methods of data collection for research or scientific inquiry
• write a thesis according to criteria determined by the university
• critically assess the results of his own work
• critically assess various sources of information

Competence

The student can

• participate in the development of the behavioral sciences
• justify their professional behavior with reference to ethical guidelines, general ethical considerations and their own assessment of the situation
• analyze and critically assess various sources of information with relevance for the thesis