What is Systems and Control Engineering?
Systems and Control Engineers are the people who analyze, optimize, control, and design complex systems that are all around us. In complicated devices, such as automobile anti-lock braking systems, aircraft flight controllers, robotic manufacturing assembly lines, rate-adaptive pacemakers, computer communication systems, and advanced petrochemical refineries, the skills, and talents of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, chemical engineers, metallurgists, and computer engineers are often required. But it is the systems and control engineers who study the integration and coordination of all of the component subsystems. Systems and Control Engineers are trained in the skills and tools that bring together the efforts of several engineering fields, to make things work efficiently and well – to make things happen! Very cool isn’t it?
Why this minor?
First of all, I decided to take a minor because pretty much everybody I knew was doing a minor in some discipline or another, so I would begin by saying that it is not a compulsion to pursue a minor.
I liked mathematics very much and wanted to do a minor that heavily involves the same. So I started searching for such minors and ended up taking this one.
At the time of starting the minor, I wasn’t fully aware of the scope of the applications and just took it thinking let me try the first course and then see how it goes. However, the math wasn’t just based on intuition or common sense but was rather more inclined towards building proofs using the basic concepts and thus one might find it difficult at the beginning. It was just like the mathematical rigor that you would find in MA courses which might be something that you may like or not. So just give it a proper thought before going through with it.
List of courses
You can find the courses you need to fulfill the minor requirement here (https://www.sc.iitb.ac.in/minorProgram.html). The first 3 courses are compulsory and should be done in semester 3/4/5 and are the prerequisites to the next 2 courses that can be chosen from the list. Here is the course list and a brief description (https://www.sc.iitb.ac.in/courses.html). Not all the courses mentioned in the second list can be tagged as a minor course so you have to check for yourselves whether it can be done or not.
Overview of the courses done by me
Each course will have quite a few concepts covered as a part of it. None of the courses I took had any attendance requirements but it could be very difficult to understand the course content once you start missing lectures as only a few people end up taking this minor and thus finding help at the last moment will not be as easy as it is for core courses. You can find the grading stats and instructors on ASC and judge for yourself whether the course is ‘chill’ or not.
SC 201 (Now SC 639) – Mathematical Structures for Systems and Control
The course focused on laying the foundations and had a lot of mathematical definitions but the professor was keen on ensuring that everyone understands the different concepts and thus encouraged us to ask doubts on a concept till we completely get it. Lectures were interactive and enough time was given to absorb the concepts.
There were no midsem or endsem exams for this course. We had homework and 4 open book/notes quizzes with weightage increasing as we progressed in the course. Quizzes were easy to solve provided you paid attention in the class and contained many questions directly from homework itself. Thus getting a good grade should not be difficult provided you attend the classes.
SC 202 – Signals and Feedback Systems
This course is taken by two Professors in two halves and there is a stark difference. The first half deals with Fourier, Laplace transforms and may seem like a recap. It will require a bit of practice, similar to a MA Course. No slides are provided and it is a good idea to take notes as they contain many rigorous mathematical proofs.
The second half introduces you to Control systems and their analysis. Lectures are at a steady pace and the instructor focuses on mostly getting an intuitive feel of how systems behave in closed and open loop, e.g. pole location, stability. This part of the course will help you in the core course (CL 302: Process Control) which you will have to do in the 6th semester. Once again it is recommended to take notes as no slides are provided.
One closed book endsem and 2 homeworks for each half of the course. Homeworks are usually easy if you have been going to the classes regularly and contribute to the overall understanding of the course. Exams are of normal length and if you have a good understanding of the theory and can solve the assignment questions, you are good to go.
SC 301 – Linear and Nonlinear Systems
This course again contains some very important concepts which will be repeated in CL302 and thus it would be helpful to attend classes and make notes regularly. The course was a bit boring as the lectures were monotonous but this course had very important topics covering both linear and nonlinear state-space models and Lyapunov stability.
This course didn’t have any assignments or quizzes. We just had midsem and endsem exams and thus it becomes important to not have an off day. The exams were fairly easy if you somehow manage to pay attention throughout the course. Checking was quite lenient as well and thus getting a decent grade should not be a problem provided you show enough dedication.
SC 607 – Optimization
The following description presented by the instructor on the course page sums up the importance of this course,
“I optimize, therefore I am
The urge to optimize is fundamental to our being. If we exist, we think. If we think, we make choices. If we make choices, we want to optimize. Indeed, optimization may also be fundamental to what makes our being. Laws governing the behavior of physical (and hence biological) systems seem to have the character of seeking to optimize some energy functional.
This course will provide an understanding of the theory of mathematical optimization and some landmark algorithms. Throughout the emphasis will be on the geometry of the problem and uncovering geometric obstructions to the success of algorithms.”
For UGs, the consent of the instructor is mandatory. Our department also conducts a course on Optimization which can be taken as a department elective. This could be a very difficult course if you are not motivated enough for it. The lectures were extremely well structured with relevant concepts, proofs and examples being very well explained on the board. Lectures were very interactive and the instructor gave the students enough time to wrap their heads around the concepts. The instructor was very receptive to doubts.
As a part of the course, each of us was required to volunteer for taking notes of one lecture as per the prescribed format. Before the endsem, all the lecture notes were made available for reference.
The assignments played a very crucial part of the learning process. Each problem was an illustration of some important concept taught in the class. The assignments were at times quite difficult and almost always lengthy. Leaving the assignments for the last moment is discouraged.
There was only a single endsem exam worth 50 marks and we were allowed a 2-page cheat sheet to accommodate all the algorithms. Sincerely solving assignments and going through class notes is a must for scoring well in the exam as the problems were selected from the assignments. Speed may also be important as there were some questions on algorithms that demanded tedious calculations.
SC 638 – Quantum Control
This course was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic and hence only a portion of the course could be covered. It did contain some part which we covered in earlier PH courses and then took a sharp turn with the introduction of formalism of Quantum Mechanics and Spin Theory. The instructor was quite enthusiastic and tried his best to solve all our doubts. These topics were quite simple for the EP (Engineering Physics) students and hence a large portion of the class was from EP.
We had 1 homework prior to the midsem and then the midsem itself which was open book/notes and the instructor had himself uploaded the notes to be printed. I had a really hard time and barely managed to clear the course because of a friend of mine who taught me the basics a day before the exam. I had to take this course so as to complete the minor as almost all other courses had a slot clash with some core course or the other and thus didn’t have enough motivation to study. (Yes you will face this slot clash problem for the last 2 courses as you will have to adjust department and institute electives along with minor courses)
Feel free to reach out to Rushabh at rushabh97.vora@gmail.com
Department Academic Mentorship Program 