A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor has published a new textbook on control system design in engineering. 

Dr. Kamran Iqbal, professor of systems engineering, wrote, “A First Course in Control Systems.” River Publishers published the book this month as part of its Series in Automation, Control, and Robotics.

Iqbal, who has been teaching control system design for years, wanted to write a new textbook for his students covering advances in the field.

“I was not satisfied with the textbooks on the market on the subject,” he said. “Those texts were generally written 20 to 30 years ago and are in need of reorganization to cater for changing emphases in the subject.”

Control systems are quite common, according to Iqbal, especially with an increased reliance on automation. Control system design is used in environmental controls and appliances in homes, airplanes, and vehicles.

“Control system design involves designing a controller to obtain the desired behavior from the physical system, such as the airplane, the automobile, or environmental controls,” Iqbal said. “Controller design is based on a mathematical model of the physical system. The design is commonly implemented as a software routine using a microprocessor.”

A control system design course is normally taken by students in all engineering disciplines, particularly as part of the curricula in electrical, mechanical, chemical, biomedical, and aeronautical engineering. This book provides a unified perspective with tools and methodologies that are applicable across all engineering disciplines.

Iqbal holds a bachelor’s degree in avionics engineering from NED University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi, Pakistan. He also studied at Ohio State University, where he earned a Master of Business Administration as well as a master’s degree and doctorate in electrical engineering.