This module can be taken as a Short Course for Credit or a Standalone Short Course.
Please go to the 'Upgrade to a professional qualification' section for more information.

This course is specifically designed as an introduction course for the control and guidance module.

The course offers a solid foundation of control system theory specifically for Guided Weapon Systems thus incorporating the key assumptions and challenges surrounding guided weapons.

At a glance

  • Dates
    • Please enquire for course dates
  • Duration5 days
  • Location¹û½´ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø at Shrivenham
  • Cost£2,350 - Short Course for Credit fee 

    £2,100 - Standalone Short Course fee  Concessions available

Course structure

Lectures, tutorials/discussions, individual case study (MATLAB Dynamic/performance Simulation based for a missile fin actuator system to analyse and design for system bandwidth, frequency response, RL performance design, architectures for feedback, stability.

What you will learn

  • Construct Ordinary Differential Equations for dynamic system modelling of guided weapon subsystems and validate the results,
  • Formulate the Laplace transform and State-Space representations of dynamic systems for Control Analysis,
  • Numerically analyse the dynamic response of guided weapon subsystems with the application of time and frequency response methods,
  • Apply the frequency and root-loci methodologies for the design of guided weapon appropriate compensators,
  • Design feedback compensators to improve dynamic system response and critically analyse and evaluate control system performance with relation to guided weapon systems.

Core content

  • Introduction: introduction to feedback control, control states and outputs of a dynamical system, control objectives.
  • Modelling: Laplace transform, open-loop transfer function, closed-loop transfer function, state-space modelling, block diagram algebra.
  • S-plane Analysis and Time Response: pole-zeros, properties of transfer functions, inverse Laplace transform, time response, steady-state error, Ruth-Hurwitz stability criterion.
  • Frequency Response: Bode diagrams, polar plots, Nyquist and inverse Nyquist diagram, Nyquist stability criterion, closed loop frequency response, relative stability: gain and phase margins, sensitivity analysis in the frequency domain.
  • Frequency Response – Case ¹û½´ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø: loop analysis of feedback systems, frequency response performance criteria.
  • Root Locus: root loci plots, construction of root-locus, root locus design.
  • Compensation: lead compensation design, lag compensation design, lag-lead compensation design, PID compensation, compensation using Bode plots, pole placement.
  • Compensation – Case ¹û½´ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø:  performance specification and design approach, control design and analysis.
  • State Space: canonical transformations, controllability and observability, state feedback design.

Upgrade to a professional qualification

When taken as a Short Course for Credit, 10 credit points can be put towards the Guided Weapon Systems MSc.

Find out more about short course credit points.

Who should attend

This course is suitable for officers seeking to fill appointments concerned with military guided weapons systems in the MOD and trials and training establishments. In particular the course is designed for employees within the MOD, the Armed Forces, and the international defence industry to enable them to work more effectively in the fields of designing and specifying realistic/system requirements for the control of guided weapon systems.

Students must have successfully completed the Guided Weapons Propulsion and Guided Weapons Aerodynamics in order to take this as a Short Course for Credit. There are no prerequisites if taken as a Standalone Short Course.

Accreditation

The course is fully accredited with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). Accreditation is also presently being sought with the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS).

Concessions

A limited number of MOD sponsored places are available.

Location and travel

Cranfield Defence and Security (CDS) is a Cranfield School based at the Ministry of Defence establishment on the Oxfordshire/Wiltshire borders.

Shrivenham itself lies in the picturesque Vale of the White Horse, close to the M4 motorway which links London and South Wales. It is 7 miles from Swindon, the nearest town, which lies off the M4 at the hub of Britain’s motorway network.

Bath, Cheltenham, Bristol and Oxford are all within an hour’s drive and London less than two hours away by car.

All visitors must be pre-booked in at reception by the person they are visiting on the campus.

For further location and travel details

How to apply

To apply for this course please use the online application form.

Read our Professional development (CPD) booking conditions.