ECE 531:
Linear System Theory
Spring 2021
ECE 531 WEB SITE CONTENTS:
Course Meeting Time and Location:

      Mondays and Wednesdays, 9:40 - 10:55 AM

      Perlstein Hall room 131 (131 PH)

Course Staff:

  • Instructor:
    Dr. Geoffrey Williamson
          Office: 128 Siegel Hall
          Phone: 312-567-5960
          Office Hours:
             Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30pm - 4:00pm or by appointment
             via Google meet
          E-mail: williamson [at] iit [dot] edu

  • Grader:
    Zhi Su
          Office:
          Phone:
          Office Hours:
          E-mail: zsu7 [at] hawk [dot] iit [dot] edu
Textbook:

Recommended texts:

  • João P. Hespanha, Linear Systems Theory, Princeton University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780691140216
  • Chi-Tsong Chen, Linear System Theory and Design, 4th ed., Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780199959570
  • Wilson J. Rugh, Linear System Theory, 2nd ed., Prentice-Hall, 1996. ISBN: 0-13-441205-2
  • William Brogan, Modern Control Theory, 3rd ed., Prentice-Hall, 1991. ISBN: 0-13-589763-7
  • Thomas Kailath, Linear Systems, Prentice-Hall, 1980. ISBN: 0-13-536961-4
COURSE POLICIES:

Please be familiar with the following course policies.

  • COVID-19 Precautions and Face Coverings in Class.
    Illinois Tech students are required to wear face masks at all times and maintain social distancing (6 feet between individuals) in traditional classrooms, instructional laboratories, and similar settings. In general, individuals should spend as little time as practicable in closer proximity when doing so is necessary to achieve learning objectives. Students who are feeling ill or experiencing symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, or a higher than normal temperature will be excused from class and are expected to stay at home.

    Instructors have the right to ask those who are not complying with these requirements to leave class in the interest of everyone's health and safety. In the event that a student refuses to comply with instructor directions regarding face masks and/or social distancing, the instructor has the right to ask the student to leave, and/or cancel class. A student who refuses to comply with these requirements will be referred to the Office of the Dean of Students for possible disciplinary action under the Student Code of Conduct.

    Additionally, as a reminder, following other simple practices such as frequent and thorough hand washing, wiping down desks and seats with disinfectant wipes when possible, not sharing personal items such as pens and cell phones, and avoiding crowded hallways and other enclosed spaces will promote good health in and out of the classroom.

    Visit iit.edu/COVID-19 for details on Illinois Tech's response to coronavirus (COVID-19). For information from government authorities, please see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at cdc.gov.

  • Disabilities.
    Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with documented disabilities. In order to receive accommodations, students must obtain a letter of accommodation from the Center for Disability Resources and make an appointment to speak with me as soon as possible. My office hours and contact information are listed above. The Center for Disability Resources is located in Suite 1C3-2 (on the first floor) at 3424 S. State Street, 312-567-5744 or disabilities@iit.edu.

  • Sexual Harassment and Discrimination.
    Illinois Tech prohibits all sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and gender discrimination by any member of our community. This includes harassment among students, staff, or faculty. Sexual harassment of a student by a faculty member or sexual harassment of an employee by a supervisor is particularly serious. Such conduct may easily create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment.

    Illinois Tech encourages anyone experiencing sexual harassment or sexual misconduct to speak with the Office of Title IX Compliance for information on support options and the resolution process.

    You can report sexual harassment electronically at iit.edu/incidentreport, which may be completed anonymously. You may additionally report by contacting the Title IX Coordinator, Virginia Foster at foster@iit.edu or the Deputy Title IX Coordinator at eespeland@iit.edu.

    For confidential support, you may reach Illinois Tech's Confidential Advisor at (773) 907-1062. You can also contact a licensed practitioner in Illinois Tech's Student Health and Wellness Center at student.health@iit.edu or (312)567-7550

    For a comprehensive list of resources regarding counseling services, medical assistance, legal assistance and visa and immigration services, you can visit the Office of Title IX Compliance website at https://www.iit.edu/title-ix/resources.

  • Homework Policies.
    Please follow these rules when submitting homework papers. Any exceptions to these basic policies should be confirmed with the instructor before submitting your paper. Please also note that there are penalties on your homework score for failing to comply with these policies.
    • Please submit your assignments as pdf files via the Blackboard system. Be sure that your pdf is readable. Have each page in the pdf file be (approximately) 8 1/2 x 11 inches in size.
    • Your homework paper should present answers to the questions in the same order that they appear in the assignment. At the grader's discretion, zero credit may be given for work that appears out of order.
    • No late homeworks will be accepted without prior approval by the instructor. (Generally, approval of late homework submission requires there to be very extenuating circumstances. I drop the lowest homework score in part to accommodate the common situations that prevent persons from completing the assignments on time.)

  • Academic Honesty.
    It is your responsibility to be familiar with IIT's Code of Academic Honesty. (Consult the IIT Student Handbook for this code.)

    In particular, the work that you submit for homework and individual project assignments and your work on examination papers must be your own. You may consult with other students about homework and project assignments. In fact, discussion of the assignments is encouraged. However, the written material that is submitted must be your own. Such written material includes computer programs and the results of using computer programs (computed values, plots, etc.).

    If the above policy or any part of IIT's Code of Academic Honesty is violated in regard to a submitted homework assignment, a grade of zero will be assigned to the work AND your letter grade at the end of the course will be lowered (an A gets lowered to a B, a B gets lowered to a C, and a C gets lowered to a failing grade of E). If the above policy or any part of IIT's Code of Academic Honesty is violated in regard to a submitted project assignment or an examination paper, a punitive failing grade will be given in the course. In both cases, the matter will be reported to the appropriate university officials and offices. In the case of a second offense (with the first offense in this or any other course), I will pursue with the appropriate university officials your expulsion from the university.

    Violations of this policy include, but are not limited to: (a) copying another student's homework assignment, or any portion of it; (b) having your homework assignment or some portion of it be copied by another student (it is YOUR responsibility to be sure this doesn't happen; merely giving your homework assignment to another student when this allows them to copy it can lead to your violating the code of academic honesty); (c) including ideas from other sources (books, articles, web pages) in your submitted work without proper attribution (a common form of this is to copy the wording from a source verbatim without placing the passage in quotation marks and citing the source; however, merely restating the idea without attribution is also plagiarism - see the web piece Plagiarism, by Earl Babbie for examples); (d) using figures, drawings, diagrams, and pictures from other sources (including web sites!) without permission or attribution.

Course Objectives:

After completing this course, the student should be able to do the following things correctly:

  • formulate state space descriptions of linear dynamical systems, in both time-invariant and time-varying cases, and for both continuous-time and discrete-time systems;
  • find the analytic solution of state equations and give a geometric interpretation of the state space in terms of the system dynamics;
  • apply the concepts of stability, controllability and observability in interpreting and analyzing system behavior;
  • formulate input-output descriptions of linear dynamical systems, in both time-invariant and time-varying cases, and for both continuous-time and discrete-time systems;
  • construct realizations of input-output system descriptions via state space system dynamics;
  • use state feedback to reshape system dynamics;
  • use observers to infer knowledge of the system states given input and output measurements;
  • use computer-based analysis and design tools (such as Matlab software) in the analysis of linear, time-invariant systems.
Course Documents:

This section holds various course documents. Formats vary from html to pdf to Matlab .m files.

Homework Assignments:

Homework assignments, when available, will be posted here in pdf format.

Homework Solutions:

Homework solutions, when available, will be posted here in pdf format.

Examinations:

There will be two take-home examinations during the course of the term, and one in-class final examination. The take-home examinations, when available, will be posted here in pdf format.

Grading:

  • Homework: 20% (best 5 of 6 assignments)
  • Take-home Exam #1: 30%
  • Take-home Exam #2: 30%
  • In-class Final: 20% (the final is comprehensive)
COMPUTER SOFTWARE:

The homework assignments will require use of the Matlab software package. This software is available for use in all of IIT's computer labs, including those at the Rice Campus. Details about computer lab facilities may be found at https://ots.iit.edu/classrooms-labs/computer-labs-classrooms.

This page last updated on 6 May 2021