An introduction to sliding mode control for interdisciplinary education

Abstract

This paper proposes a new lecture structure for an introduction to Sliding Mode Control (SMC) for a wider audience of undergraduate students. In particular, the intuitive derivation of the sliding variable and choice of the sliding surface is emphasized in order to obtain an intuitive understanding in a gradual manner. The structure of the lecture is conceived in an inclusive way, considering only the common mathematical high school background and basic knowledge about simple differential equations and their solutions. In this sense, SMC can represent a possible application of the already acquired knowledge and in the meantime provide contact with one of the most important control techniques in theory and application. The paper intends to give a possible structure of an interdisciplinary lecture in SMC for teachers and students (in particular, non-technical students). By presenting the research-based approach and the results of the implementation, the paper contributes to the discourse on interdisciplinary education in engineering. Engineering students’ courses of action have been videorecorded in design projects and in electronics labs at two universities. It can bee seen that students’ use a wealth of bodily-material resources that are an integral and seamless part of students’ interactions. They use bodily resources, concrete materials, “low-tech” inscriptions as well as “high-tech” (“digital”) inscription devices. Our results challenge that by hand – by computer and analogue tools – digital tools should be seen as dichotomies. Our empirical evidence suggests that students should be trained to not only be trained to work with “digital” tools but with a multitude of tools and resources. We, thus, advocate that a postdigital perspective should be taken in education where the digital makes up part of an integrated totality.