ECE 461 Syllabus

BISON ACADEMY

Courses taught in the

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

North Dakota State University

 

ECE 461/661: Controls Systems

Syllabus: Fall 2026

Updated 08/21/2026


Syllabus - HW & Solutions - Resources - Comments


Instructor: Jacob Glower

Contact: Jacob.Glower@ndsu.edu
Class Times: 10am Dolve Hall 118

Classes live streamed on Zoom


 

Lecture

Videos and Code

YouTube PlayList

Handouts

 

M

Aug 24

Holiday

1947th Anniversary of Mt. Vesuvius

 

 

HW #1

W

Aug 26

Syllabus

Slides #0

0: Syllabus

Download Matlab (link here)

Download SciLab (link here)

F

Aug 28

LaPlace Transforms

Slides #10

10 LaPlace

10 LaPlace

M

Aug 31

Intro to Ladder Logic

PLC Lecture #1

1 Intro to PLCs

 

 

HW #2

W

Sept 2

1st and 2nd Order Approximations

Slides #11

11 1st & 2nd Order

11 Find G(s)

2nd Order Approx

F

Sept 4

Block Diagrams

Slides #12

12 Block Diag

12 Block Diagrams

M

Sept 7

Holiday

Labor Day

 

 

HW #3

W

Sept 9

State-Space and Canonical Forms

Slides #13

13 State Space

13 State Space

F

Sept 11

Electrical Circuits: Heat Equation

Slides #14

14 Circuits

14 RLC

Heat.m

M

Sept 14

Code Composer Workbench

PLC Lecture #2

2 PLC CCW

 

 

HW #4

W

Sept 16

Mass Spring Systems: Wave Equation

Slides #15

15 Mass Spring

15 MBK

Wave.m

F

Sept 18

Rotational Systems & Gears

Slides #16

16 Rotational Systems

16 JDK

M

Sept 21

PLCs and State Transition Logic

PLC Lecture #3

3 PLC State Transition Logic

 

Test #1

Available on BlackBoard

Friday, Sept 23rd

6am - Midnight

W

Sept 23

Modeling a DC Servo Motor

Slides #17

17 Modeling a DC Motor

 

F

Sept 25

Test #1

 

 

M

Sept 28

Timer Blocks

PLC Lecture #4

 

 

HW #5

W

Sept 30

Error Constants

Slides #18

18 Error Constants

18 Error Const

F

Oct 2

Routh Criteria

Slides #19

19 Routh Criteria

19 Routh Table

M

Oct 5

Counter Blocks

PLC Lecture #5

5 PLC Counters

 

HW #6

W

Oct 7

Sketching a Root Locus Plot

Slides #20

20 Root Locus

20 Root Locus a

F

Oct 9

Root Locus with Complex Poles

Slides #21

21 Root Locus b

21 Root Locus b

M

Oct 12

For-Next Loops, If-Then Statements

PLC Lecture #6

6 PLC Loops

 

HW #7

W

Oct 14

Gain Compensation

Slides #22

22 Gain Comp

22 Gain Comp

F

Oct 16

Lead Compensation

Slides #23

23 Lead

23 Lead

M

Oct 19

Analog Inputs & Comparitors

PLC Lecture #7

7 PLC Analog

 

HW #8

W

Oct 21

PID Compensation

Slides #24

24 PID

Heat.m

Heat Equation Simulation

24 PID

F

Oct 23

Meeting Design Specs

Slides #26

26 Meeting Specs

26 Meeting Specs

M

Oct 26

Systems with Delays

Slides #27

27 Delays

27 Delays

Test #2

Available on BlackBoard

Friday, Oct 30th

6am – Midnight

W

Oct 28

Unstable Poles and Multi-Loop Feedback

Slides #28

28 Unstable Poles

28 Unstable Poles

F

Oct 30

Test #2

 

 

M

Nov 2

Structured Text (ST) Programs

PLC Lecture #8

6 ST Intro

7 ST Counters

8 ST Timers

 

HW #9

W

Nov 4

z-transform

Slides #29

29 z Transform

29 z Transforms

F

Nov 6

s to z Conversion

Slides #30

30 s to z

30 s to z

M

Nov 9

Root Locus in the z-Domain

Slides #31

31 Root Locus

31 Root Locus

*

31 Digital_Control.m

HW #10

W

Nov 11

Holiday

Veterans Day

 

 

F

Nov 13

Digital PID Control

Slides #32

32 Digital PID

32 z PID

*

32 Digital_PID.m

M

Nov 16

Meeting Design Specs in the z-plane

Slides #33

33 Design Specs

34 Design Specs

HW #11

W

Nov 18

Bode Plots

Slides #35

35 Bode Plots

35 Bode Plots

*

Bode2.m

F

Nov 20

Nichols Charts and Gain Compensation

Slides #36

36 Nichols

36 Nichols

*

Nichols2.m

Nyquist2.m

M

Nov 23

Gain and Lead Compensation with Bode Plots

Slides #37

37 Gain & Lead

37 Gain & Lead

 

W

Nov 25

Holiday

Thanksgiving

 

 

F

Nov 27

Holiday

Thanksgiving

 

 

M

Nov 30

Lag Compensators

Slides #38

38 Lag

38 Lag

Test #3

Available on BlackBoard

Friday, Dec 4th

6am – Midnight

W

Dec 2

Meeting Design Specifications

Slides #39

39 Design Specs

39 Specs

F

Dec 4

Test #3

 

 

M

Dec 7

Modern Control

Preview of ECE 463/663

 

 

 

W

Dec 9

Review for Final

 

 

F

Dec 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PID with a DC Servo Motor

Slides #25

25: PID of DC Servo Motor

 

 

 

Digital Control of a DC Servo Motor

Slides #34

34: Digital Control of a DC Servo Motor