CS

Automatic control has played a vital role in the advance of engineering and science. In addition to its extreme importance in space-vehicle systems, missile-guidance systems, robotic systems, and the like, automatic control has become an important and integral part of modern manufacturing and industrial processes.

For example, automatic control is essential in the numerical control of machine tools in the manufacturing industries, in the design of autopilot systems in the aerospace industries, and in the design of cars and trucks in the automobile industries.

It is also essential in such industrial operations as controlling pressure, temperature, humidity, viscosity, and flow in the process industries. Since advances in the theory and practice of automatic control provide the means for attaining optimal performance of dynamic systems, improving productivity, relieving the drudgery of many routine repetitive manual operations, and more, most engineers and scientists must now have a good understanding of this field.