Control input
High school
Consider a system that you want to steer, like a car. A control input is a quantity you choose in order to steer the system.
Undergraduate (control systems)
In a control system, a control input is an input $u$ chosen by the controller at each time to change the behavior of the system.
Examples
Examples
- The motor commands of a quadcopter drone High school
Non-examples
Things that may be mistaken for examples.
- A gust of wind hitting a quadcopter drone High school
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Jitter in a quadcopter drone’s GPS position readings
High school
Jitter in a quadcopter drone’s GPS position readings is not a control input because it is not chosen.
Notes
A control input is in contrast to a parameter, which is constant with respect to time.
Distinctions involving this term
- Types of exogenous inputs: A control system is affected by signals that it does not generate itself, and these signals have different names depending on their role. Exogenous inputs are any inputs from outside the system. A control input is chosen; a disturbance acts on the dynamics; measurement noise only corrupts what is measured. A perturbation is a change to the system itself, which may or may not be modeled as an input.