Course Description: Control systems play an important role in maintaining the homeostasis in the biological systems. This course incorporates the basic control and modeling techniques into physiological models to have a better understanding of how biological system regulatory process work and interact with each other. When one of the control systems’ parts including feedback and/or feedforward section fails, it is usually a sign of illness and medical intervention may be necessary. Understanding physiological control systems and models quantitatively, provide a more in-depth understanding of the body function while may make diagnosis and treatment more programmed with less risk of error. This can contribute to the enhancement of medical devices, medications, and basic science that can ultimately be used for the diagnosis and treatment purposes.
Problems of successively increasing complexity will be examined, and mathematical concepts such as Linearity/Non-linearity, Impulse response, Laplace transforms, Time domain and Frequency domain analysis of the systems like stability, Bode plots, and the Nyquist criterion will be covered on an as-needed basis. Once the necessary requisites are developed we will dedicate the remainder of the class to analyzing several practical physiological control systems.
Textbook: “Basic Control Systems Engineering” by P. H. Lewis and C. Yang is required as your textbook. This book was chosen for two main reasons. 1) It develops the necessary control concepts more fully at a slower pace than most other texts. 2) It forces the reader to convert between electrical and mechanical models regularly. Number two is one of the benefits of biomedical engineering. It allows you to have a diverse educational experience.
Recommended Materials: For further reading “Physiological Control Systems” by Michael C. K. Khoo is beneficial. This book contains a good number of physiological problems both in mathematical modeling and control systems. In addition, “Mathematical Physiology” by J. Keener and J. Sneyd can be beneficial in a better understanding of quantitative physiological models that bring the physiological systems and mathematics into the same border. As an additional resource for basic control engineering concepts and problems, “Modern Control Engineering” by K. Ogata, is also suggested.
Assessment and Grading Policy: Grading will be based on:
- BME 461/ ELE 461
2 Exams (30% each)
Homework assignments (10%)
Simulation Projects (20% {10% individual, 10% team})
Quizzes (10% {The minimum grade will be dropped})
- ELE 561
2 Exams (20% each)
Homework assignments (0%)
Simulation Projects (20% {10% individual, 10% team} )
Quizzes (0%)
Final term paper (40% {20% individual, 20% team})