The course has the objective of introducing the student to the main aspects related to the design of industrial control systems.
During the course, the student will learn about the general structure of industrial control systems, and will be provided with some general guidelines for their design.
The course will introduce the student to the principal hardware components used in industrial automation and will present the typical architecture of these systems. Particular attention will be paid to Programmable Logic Controllers an Proportional-Integral-Derivative regulators, which are the most common control devices for industrial applications. The student will learn to program PLCs through hands-on experiences, and will implement some examples of PID-based control systems. Some experiences with open-source SCADA softwares are foreseen. By the end of the course, the student should be capable of autonomously sketch a simple industrial control system and program its main components.

With reference to the Dublin descriptors, the course is meant to achieve the following objectives:
1) Knowledge and understanding: knowledge and understanding of the main aspects of industrial control and supervision architectures, of the main devices used to this aim and of the relevant requirements and characteristics.
2) Applying knowledge and understanding: knowledge of the methods to design and implement the above-mentioned systems. The student is expected to be able to analyse simple industrial plants and related project requirements, and to implement control and supervision systems that meet such requirements.
3) Making judgements: the student should be able to evaluate the proper operation of the implemented system, possibly proposing test cases that allow to assess its quality.
4) Communication skills: the student should be able to compile a clear and effective documentation of what has been implemented.
5) Learning skills: the student should be able to autonomously analyse the documentation and data-sheets of hardware and software components, in order to understand their correct use and employ them in practical applications.