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Report from Dresden
Autoraatica, Vol. 8, pp. 513-515. Pergamon Press, 1972. Printed in Great Britain.
Report from Dresden" A report on the IFAC Workshop on Higher Education in Automatic Control, Dresden, 15-18 March 1971 IT WAS an unusual meeting for IFAC. Continuing a spirit of innovation similar to that engendered by the Round Table Discussions at the Warsaw Congress, the IFAC Education Committee set out to organize a meeting with the goal of communicating ideas, experiences and philosophies about higher education in automatic control. It seemed apparent that the usual technical meeting format was not most appropriate. Even the procedures for organizing the Workshop differed from those usually followed for IFAC Symposia. The Workshop was organized by the IFAC Education Committee, not as usual by a National Organizing Committee. It evolved from a suggestion raised in a meeting of the Education Committee in Warsaw in June 1969 and reflects an increased pace of activities by IFAC in the field of automatic control education. This has been stimulated by several of the IFAC officers. A round table discussion format was established for this workshop. Sixty participants, all European except two, met for four 1½ hr sessions per day for 3 days. Participation was by invitation only and all attendees were required to prepare a brief discussion paper on one of the topics of the meeting. These topics are discussed below. There was a substantial exchange of ideas and each attendee had the opportunity to actively contribute to the discussion. At least 80 per cent of the participants made continuing real contributions to the discussion. The English language was used in essentially all sessions. If there was one key theme which emerged from the deliberations of the group, it was this: In the future, automatic control education must be based on the systems approach to engineering design. Systems science must form the basis for a coherent theory of automatic control. There are at least two sides of this argument, of course. On the one hand, a tradition of technologically oriented, practically based education in automatic control has evolved over the years in most parts of Europe. At the other extreme, in the United States, emphasis is largely on theory and many students who graduate with a specialization in automatic control have little or no "hands on" practical experience
either at the university or in industry. Various discussions reported here must be viewed with this dichotomy in mind. As mentioned previously, the meeting was organized around a series of topics related to various aspects of automatic control education at the university level. For each topic there was an invited lecture of about 20 min. The topics of the sessions are listed with the names of the invited lecturers who also played a major role in leading the discussion on the topic in question. This is followed by a brief summary of the lecture and discussions. (1) Post-graduate education in formal education beyond the first University degree (S. ~ ,
U.S.A.). Although different countries are at different stages of development in the area of automatic control education, there are certain common problems which are being or have been faced by all educators in this field. The necessity of systems theoretic ideas, the notions of the body of knowledge currently known as systems science, were recognized to be fundamental in automatic control education. This issue was mentioned earlier in this report. There were many other problems which were raised that seemed to be of common interest among the participants. The appropriateness of the particular curriculum for the type of engineers being educated was discussed in some detail. Because of the apparent migration of trained engineers from one part of the world to another at various times, it seemed more common than not that an individual trained as an automatic control specialist in one country would not be properly suited to work on control problems in his own country. If he came to the United States for training from a developing country, the level of education was much too theoretical. If he went from the United States to another country for his education, the theoretical basis may be lacking, although it may be true that a superior technical and practical training could be obtained. One way in which this problem could be avoided, it was suggested, was for the IFAC Education Committee to play a larger role in suggesting appropriate locations for graduate study especially for students from countries in which this information is not readily
* Received7 March 1972. 513
514
Report from Dresden
available. In this way, an attempt could be made to see that a student that needed a practical education could be appropriately directed to an institution or a set of institutions which offer that class of education. Another way to break down the gap between theory and practice is to be sure that educators have a reasonable amount of practical experience before and during their University teaching. In some Universities, many of the new staff members are old students from the same school. Therefore, the problem arises that students graduating from a particular school are taught by professors who themselves were educated at that school who, because of their training, find some difficulty relating to needs of industry. (2) Teaching modeling principles in automatic control (O. 1LCVEMAr,F.a, Holland). The problem of modeling of systems is a very real one and one usually ineffectively taught at universities. Problems of shifting from one model to another, of model simplification and of interpreting the result of modeling exercises were identified as key problems. The use of both analog and digital computers for modeling was mentioned and the analogy with normal human communications was drawn in suggesting that although we talk with analog computers, we write letters to digital computers. At least in the minds of some, this letter writing barrier prevents the digital computer from being an effective modeling tool in the control area. This can, of course, be simplified through the use of appropriate programming languages, but it is not commonly done. (3) Control theory in mathematics (P. C. PARKS, U.K.). Although it is recognizable that a knowledge of mathematics is not sufficient for the control engineer, it certainly is necessary and the value of mathematics to the engineer is to enable him to develop some intuitive feelingfor the problems of the physical world which he must face. However, the control engineer is usually not educated in mathematics to the point where he can analyze certain important classes of problems such as the optimization of structures. This is a field which is emerging as a very important one in the design of large complicated systems. (4) Computers in automatic control education
(0. RADi~AK~, Holland). Education itself may be reviewed using the "scientific method". It does appear that one sure way to stifle the minds of the students is to fill them with the solutions to problems. It seems that in the past we may well have been emphasizing problems of solution whereas a more appropriate approach would be to emphasize the solution of problems.
This is the domain of the automatic control engineer. The use of computers in this latter activity has hardly begun. Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) is in its infancy and in the automatic control field, except in very special cases, doesn't even exist. This is a wide open field for research related to automatic control education. (5) System science and operations research in automatic control education (W. FINDEISEN,
Poland). The need to develop team approach techniques to the solution of control problems in one that is not normally pursued in universities. However, as is well known, most engineering and control problems in the real world require a real team effort for their satisfactory solution. Is there any way that such techniques can be taught in universities ? Links between operations research and automatic control are just beginning to be explored. One would assume that in the study of optimization of structures, this would be a valuable connection to pursue. (6) Control applications and laboratory courses (Z. KOTEg, Czechoslovakia). Automatic control laboratories have always been a problem. One reason for this is that usually faculty members involved in the development of laboratories, receive very little credit for this timeconsuming and laborious effort. Often it is not recognized that technicians and workshops are needed at universities for the maintenance and development of laboratories." Student projects can be used to develop equipment for laboratories as long as enough duplicates of this equipment are available for entire laboratory activity. (7) Education and control components in measurement techniques (W. OPPELT,GER). Instrumentation should play a key role in automatic control education. Not only the design of instruments, but more importantly their use as detection and feedback elements in automatic control systems should be studied. The emphasis on instruments should be as components of systems and not as components in themselves. The emphasis should be on their sensitivity and response rather than on their construction. The reliability of these devices as well as the basic automatic control hardware is something that is very seldom discussed in automatic control education and should be given a great deal of attention. Since no automatic control system can exist without an information system also (and indeed, there is not control without information), integrated studies of information should be incorporated with control education.
Report from Dresden (8) AutomaUc control education in developing countries (A. ROCH,Switzerland). The problem of bringing automatic control education into developing countries is a very difficult one. Traditionally it has been accomplished primarily by having people from underdeveloped countries visit foreign universities for specialist training. There is a need for many students from developing countries to receive education at a level below the university level and there should be activities underway to see that this work is accomplished. Adequate attention must be given to this problem of students remaining in the country in which they are educated rather than returning to their homeland where they may apply the results of their education. The three main work areas for people trained in automatic control in developing countries are to keep existent facilities operating, to expand existing facilities, and to develop new ones. (9) Post-graduate education as informational education beyond the first university degree including on the job training and non-eredit courses in industry (13. RYASOV, U.S.S.R.). In the U.S.S.R. a great deal of automatic control education is done on an informal basis in which students attend classes as part of their normal working activity, or else by a number of "short courses" given by industry and universities. One of the things that characterizes these courses compared with regular university courses is that the goals of the student are usually short range. They are interested in upgrading their skills to accomplish a particular job better or to develop new skills to allow them to get new jobs. The more fundamental automatic control education is normally looked upon as of long range value without specific job goals in mind. The use of case-studies in continuing education seems to be a very effective means for encouraging engineering to study beyond formal computer programs. The use of closed-circuit television and audio-visual books also seem appropriate for this kind of communication. In Great Britain the idea of an open university in which correspondence and television courses are offered in addition to those in U H F radio may be another approach. It is not only the automatic control engineer who can benefit from this kind of education, but wellconstructed courses related to automatic control can be very valuable for the general public, at least
515
those people who come into contact with automatic control devices and problems in their normal work. Any lecture which tries to summarize the future of automatic control education is bound to raise a lot of issues and present ideas that must be carefully scrutinized. In the closing lecture at Dresden by O. FRANKS~ (Denmark), there was a presentation of some of these ideas which should be related here. It was again emphasized that the future of automatic control education has got to be based on the systems approach in engineering design as opposed to a basis, for example, in mathematics alone. For education in automatic control, the inter-connection of elements is as important as the elements themselves. An important aspect of the future lies in the formalization of systems structure studies. In the past, automatic control education has been approached from a strictly algorithmic point of view using the method of formal deduction. In engineering practice, a rather complex approach is used, but normally it is not documented in that way. The mistakes that are made in producing an engineering design, which lead finally to an acceptable design, are seldom mentioned. It is thought, somehow, to be inappropriate to tell how one has been led from the statement of the problem to a solution unless that path is a straight and narrow one. It seems necessary now to present the results in the way they occurred and to use this viewpoint of trial and error as a teaching vehicle. In education, thereis somefeeling that emphasis is too much on teaching systems and not enough on learning systems not only in automatic control education but in other fields of technical education also. Methods of programmed learning have been used in the past for teaching technical material, especially fundamental science. It now seems appropriate to use programmed learning in case-studies type of presentations which would show the reader the kinds of pitfalls that one can be led into and how to avoid them in the future. All in all, the Workshop was considered by most participants to be extremely successful. They were enthusiastic about the prospect of having this type of meeting on these subjects and felt that the kind of communication achieved under the conditions established in Dresden was very desirable. This aspect of communication, a key issue within IFAC, is certainly enhanced by the activities of the Journal AUTOMATICA, and the editorial which accompanies this report discusses this matter a bit more. STE~m~
Report from Dresden" A report on the IFAC Workshop on Higher Education in Automatic Control, Dresden, 15-18 March 1971 IT WAS an unusual meeting for IFAC. Continuing a spirit of innovation similar to that engendered by the Round Table Discussions at the Warsaw Congress, the IFAC Education Committee set out to organize a meeting with the goal of communicating ideas, experiences and philosophies about higher education in automatic control. It seemed apparent that the usual technical meeting format was not most appropriate. Even the procedures for organizing the Workshop differed from those usually followed for IFAC Symposia. The Workshop was organized by the IFAC Education Committee, not as usual by a National Organizing Committee. It evolved from a suggestion raised in a meeting of the Education Committee in Warsaw in June 1969 and reflects an increased pace of activities by IFAC in the field of automatic control education. This has been stimulated by several of the IFAC officers. A round table discussion format was established for this workshop. Sixty participants, all European except two, met for four 1½ hr sessions per day for 3 days. Participation was by invitation only and all attendees were required to prepare a brief discussion paper on one of the topics of the meeting. These topics are discussed below. There was a substantial exchange of ideas and each attendee had the opportunity to actively contribute to the discussion. At least 80 per cent of the participants made continuing real contributions to the discussion. The English language was used in essentially all sessions. If there was one key theme which emerged from the deliberations of the group, it was this: In the future, automatic control education must be based on the systems approach to engineering design. Systems science must form the basis for a coherent theory of automatic control. There are at least two sides of this argument, of course. On the one hand, a tradition of technologically oriented, practically based education in automatic control has evolved over the years in most parts of Europe. At the other extreme, in the United States, emphasis is largely on theory and many students who graduate with a specialization in automatic control have little or no "hands on" practical experience
either at the university or in industry. Various discussions reported here must be viewed with this dichotomy in mind. As mentioned previously, the meeting was organized around a series of topics related to various aspects of automatic control education at the university level. For each topic there was an invited lecture of about 20 min. The topics of the sessions are listed with the names of the invited lecturers who also played a major role in leading the discussion on the topic in question. This is followed by a brief summary of the lecture and discussions. (1) Post-graduate education in formal education beyond the first University degree (S. ~ ,
U.S.A.). Although different countries are at different stages of development in the area of automatic control education, there are certain common problems which are being or have been faced by all educators in this field. The necessity of systems theoretic ideas, the notions of the body of knowledge currently known as systems science, were recognized to be fundamental in automatic control education. This issue was mentioned earlier in this report. There were many other problems which were raised that seemed to be of common interest among the participants. The appropriateness of the particular curriculum for the type of engineers being educated was discussed in some detail. Because of the apparent migration of trained engineers from one part of the world to another at various times, it seemed more common than not that an individual trained as an automatic control specialist in one country would not be properly suited to work on control problems in his own country. If he came to the United States for training from a developing country, the level of education was much too theoretical. If he went from the United States to another country for his education, the theoretical basis may be lacking, although it may be true that a superior technical and practical training could be obtained. One way in which this problem could be avoided, it was suggested, was for the IFAC Education Committee to play a larger role in suggesting appropriate locations for graduate study especially for students from countries in which this information is not readily
* Received7 March 1972. 513
514
Report from Dresden
available. In this way, an attempt could be made to see that a student that needed a practical education could be appropriately directed to an institution or a set of institutions which offer that class of education. Another way to break down the gap between theory and practice is to be sure that educators have a reasonable amount of practical experience before and during their University teaching. In some Universities, many of the new staff members are old students from the same school. Therefore, the problem arises that students graduating from a particular school are taught by professors who themselves were educated at that school who, because of their training, find some difficulty relating to needs of industry. (2) Teaching modeling principles in automatic control (O. 1LCVEMAr,F.a, Holland). The problem of modeling of systems is a very real one and one usually ineffectively taught at universities. Problems of shifting from one model to another, of model simplification and of interpreting the result of modeling exercises were identified as key problems. The use of both analog and digital computers for modeling was mentioned and the analogy with normal human communications was drawn in suggesting that although we talk with analog computers, we write letters to digital computers. At least in the minds of some, this letter writing barrier prevents the digital computer from being an effective modeling tool in the control area. This can, of course, be simplified through the use of appropriate programming languages, but it is not commonly done. (3) Control theory in mathematics (P. C. PARKS, U.K.). Although it is recognizable that a knowledge of mathematics is not sufficient for the control engineer, it certainly is necessary and the value of mathematics to the engineer is to enable him to develop some intuitive feelingfor the problems of the physical world which he must face. However, the control engineer is usually not educated in mathematics to the point where he can analyze certain important classes of problems such as the optimization of structures. This is a field which is emerging as a very important one in the design of large complicated systems. (4) Computers in automatic control education
(0. RADi~AK~, Holland). Education itself may be reviewed using the "scientific method". It does appear that one sure way to stifle the minds of the students is to fill them with the solutions to problems. It seems that in the past we may well have been emphasizing problems of solution whereas a more appropriate approach would be to emphasize the solution of problems.
This is the domain of the automatic control engineer. The use of computers in this latter activity has hardly begun. Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) is in its infancy and in the automatic control field, except in very special cases, doesn't even exist. This is a wide open field for research related to automatic control education. (5) System science and operations research in automatic control education (W. FINDEISEN,
Poland). The need to develop team approach techniques to the solution of control problems in one that is not normally pursued in universities. However, as is well known, most engineering and control problems in the real world require a real team effort for their satisfactory solution. Is there any way that such techniques can be taught in universities ? Links between operations research and automatic control are just beginning to be explored. One would assume that in the study of optimization of structures, this would be a valuable connection to pursue. (6) Control applications and laboratory courses (Z. KOTEg, Czechoslovakia). Automatic control laboratories have always been a problem. One reason for this is that usually faculty members involved in the development of laboratories, receive very little credit for this timeconsuming and laborious effort. Often it is not recognized that technicians and workshops are needed at universities for the maintenance and development of laboratories." Student projects can be used to develop equipment for laboratories as long as enough duplicates of this equipment are available for entire laboratory activity. (7) Education and control components in measurement techniques (W. OPPELT,GER). Instrumentation should play a key role in automatic control education. Not only the design of instruments, but more importantly their use as detection and feedback elements in automatic control systems should be studied. The emphasis on instruments should be as components of systems and not as components in themselves. The emphasis should be on their sensitivity and response rather than on their construction. The reliability of these devices as well as the basic automatic control hardware is something that is very seldom discussed in automatic control education and should be given a great deal of attention. Since no automatic control system can exist without an information system also (and indeed, there is not control without information), integrated studies of information should be incorporated with control education.
Report from Dresden (8) AutomaUc control education in developing countries (A. ROCH,Switzerland). The problem of bringing automatic control education into developing countries is a very difficult one. Traditionally it has been accomplished primarily by having people from underdeveloped countries visit foreign universities for specialist training. There is a need for many students from developing countries to receive education at a level below the university level and there should be activities underway to see that this work is accomplished. Adequate attention must be given to this problem of students remaining in the country in which they are educated rather than returning to their homeland where they may apply the results of their education. The three main work areas for people trained in automatic control in developing countries are to keep existent facilities operating, to expand existing facilities, and to develop new ones. (9) Post-graduate education as informational education beyond the first university degree including on the job training and non-eredit courses in industry (13. RYASOV, U.S.S.R.). In the U.S.S.R. a great deal of automatic control education is done on an informal basis in which students attend classes as part of their normal working activity, or else by a number of "short courses" given by industry and universities. One of the things that characterizes these courses compared with regular university courses is that the goals of the student are usually short range. They are interested in upgrading their skills to accomplish a particular job better or to develop new skills to allow them to get new jobs. The more fundamental automatic control education is normally looked upon as of long range value without specific job goals in mind. The use of case-studies in continuing education seems to be a very effective means for encouraging engineering to study beyond formal computer programs. The use of closed-circuit television and audio-visual books also seem appropriate for this kind of communication. In Great Britain the idea of an open university in which correspondence and television courses are offered in addition to those in U H F radio may be another approach. It is not only the automatic control engineer who can benefit from this kind of education, but wellconstructed courses related to automatic control can be very valuable for the general public, at least
515
those people who come into contact with automatic control devices and problems in their normal work. Any lecture which tries to summarize the future of automatic control education is bound to raise a lot of issues and present ideas that must be carefully scrutinized. In the closing lecture at Dresden by O. FRANKS~ (Denmark), there was a presentation of some of these ideas which should be related here. It was again emphasized that the future of automatic control education has got to be based on the systems approach in engineering design as opposed to a basis, for example, in mathematics alone. For education in automatic control, the inter-connection of elements is as important as the elements themselves. An important aspect of the future lies in the formalization of systems structure studies. In the past, automatic control education has been approached from a strictly algorithmic point of view using the method of formal deduction. In engineering practice, a rather complex approach is used, but normally it is not documented in that way. The mistakes that are made in producing an engineering design, which lead finally to an acceptable design, are seldom mentioned. It is thought, somehow, to be inappropriate to tell how one has been led from the statement of the problem to a solution unless that path is a straight and narrow one. It seems necessary now to present the results in the way they occurred and to use this viewpoint of trial and error as a teaching vehicle. In education, thereis somefeeling that emphasis is too much on teaching systems and not enough on learning systems not only in automatic control education but in other fields of technical education also. Methods of programmed learning have been used in the past for teaching technical material, especially fundamental science. It now seems appropriate to use programmed learning in case-studies type of presentations which would show the reader the kinds of pitfalls that one can be led into and how to avoid them in the future. All in all, the Workshop was considered by most participants to be extremely successful. They were enthusiastic about the prospect of having this type of meeting on these subjects and felt that the kind of communication achieved under the conditions established in Dresden was very desirable. This aspect of communication, a key issue within IFAC, is certainly enhanced by the activities of the Journal AUTOMATICA, and the editorial which accompanies this report discusses this matter a bit more. STE~m~