Objective

I want to become a valued employee of a company like yours where I can make a difference (by
surpassing my coworkers, to do better than my teammates) by my hard work, dedication and my
talent. Where I can add value to the projects the company undertake and to help it meet all the
goals that can make the company and myself successful. And for this I want the companys
sophisticated atmosphere to teach me and train me and polish my skills in process modeling,
advanced control of systems and other managerial and technical skills which can be beneficial not
just myself but also the company.
Why process modeling
In the process of model building we are translating our real world problem into an equivalent
mathematical problem. So it is a formation of set of equations that allows us to predict the behavior
of a process. And we model a process to for its control, its optimization and for possibly safety
studies (to check if the input signal can have harmful effect on system, like it can violate a physical
constraint of the system and can cause damage).
A good model has a valid structure that correctly represents connections between inputs and
outputs and correctly predicts the behavior of the system.

Synthesis: What sequence of decisions can he used to manufacture a product?

Operation: What operating conditions will maximize the yield of a product?
Design: What type and size of equipment is necessary to produce a product?
Control: How can a process input be manipulated to maintain a measured process output at a
desired value?
Safety: If an equipment failure occurs, what will he the impact on the operating personnel and
other process equipment?
Examples: Distillation Column (A component A is separated from mixture of A and B by
boiling/heating where component A boiling point is lower than B), heat exchanger or boiler,
desalination system (reverse osmosis: the saline water is pumped to a high pressure, forcing some
water to pass through the membrane leaving its salt contents behind. Osmosis: Osmosis is the
movement of a liquid or any fluid through a semi-permeable membrane into a region of higher salt
concentration, in the direction that tends to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides.),
rockets, air crafts, space shuttle, UAVs.
Advanced control of systems

It involves various advanced techniques for controlling the system. Like MPC, internal model
control etc.
MPC (The MPC is a kind of control that predicts the future outcome or output in a specific time
frame or time horizon but injects the input at current time instant. After prediction it typically sends
out only the first change in inputs, and repeats the calculation when the next change is required.
So basically MPC is a finite-horizon optimization of a plant model. At certain time instant the
current plant state is detected and sampled and for specific time horizon or time frame a particular
input trajectory is calculated for which the cost function is minimum. The cost function is
formulated in a way to achieve the desired control objective for example to keep the states at
certain level. Hence at each instant the cost function is minimized and the input trajectory is
calculated but the important point is only the first sample of the calculated input trajectory is
implemented. This process is implemented again and again and this prediction horizon or time
frame for which the cost function is formulated keeps moving forward.
ADV: empirical models obtained by system identification can be used in mpc.
I didnt specifically took the course for it but I know how it works basically as I have used in one
of my course projects. Software tools like matlab have built-in toolbox for MPC)
IMC (Internal model control is a kind of control system in which there must be some
representation of the process to be controlled either in explicit form or implicit form. Like it must
have some portion of mathematical model of the plant. The plant is controlled by the constant
interactions between plant and the controller. i.e. a disturbance signal is generated which is
the difference between the plant and models output and based on this disturbance the control
system calibrates the inputs. Example is Inverse model in which the controller is simply the
mathematical inverse of the model. The input is just the desired value of output)
What is Control System?
A control system consists of subsystems and processes (or plants) assembled for the purpose of
obtaining a desired output with desired performance.
For example, consider an elevator. When the fourth-floor button is pressed on the first floor, the
elevator rises to the fourth floor with a speed and floor-leveling accuracy designed for passenger
comfort. The push of the fourth-floor button is an input that represents our desired output. Two
major measures of performance are: (1) the transient response and (2) the steady-state error. In our
example, passenger comfort and passenger patience are dependent upon the transient response. If
this response is too fast, passenger comfort is sacrificed; if too slow, passenger patience is
sacrificed. The steady-state error is another important performance specification since passenger
safety and convenience would be sacrificed if the elevator did not properly level to the floor it is
destined to reach.
I havent studied Distributed Control Systems (DCS) or PLCs but I can assure you that I have great
aptitude for learning them. I can learn anything easily that is related to controls. And my GPA
speaks of this aptitude.

Dynamic optimization
Optimization is kind of performance enhancement of the system and it is determined by the
response of all variables including inputs and outputs. This is done by first specifying a
performance criterion in the form of a cost function. Then the next step is to determine the input
signal for which the cost function is minimum. The cost function is the performance criterion so
higher the value of cost function lower the performance is and vice versa. For example one of the
performance criterion is to deviation of the variable values from their desired values. We design a
simple cost function that is square of difference of variable and its desired value. And we determine
the input trajectory for which the cost function is minimum and that is the fundamental principle
behind an optimization problem. We can call it dynamic optimization if time factor is involved. If
not then its called static optimization.
What is VISIO
Microsoft Visio is a application for making diagrams and is part of the Microsoft Office family.
Its used for making flow charts, simple or complicated designs and diagrams to represent a process,
block diagram and variety of shapes for almost any kind of system. Pipes, valves, pumps, big
equipments like heat exchanger, power plants.
MatLab
Matlab is a software that is used by millions of engineers and scientists worldwide to analyze and
design the systems. It is used in plenty of areas like for machine learning, signal processing, image
processing, computer vision, communications control design, robotics, and much more. It is used
for validating the design and schemes that one conceive. Like I create a model in mind and then
build a mathematics for it then Il use Matlab to test that model. So it validates how god the model
is. Similarly I create a control design and build a mathematics on paper and then il use matlab to
simulate it, improve it by changing its parameters. Simulink is associated with matlab and is used
for same purpose but it uses dedicated blocks for designing. Like in matlab I have to write a code
for certain objective, in Simulink there is dedicated or built in block for that certain objective. For
example transfer function block, PID control block, MPC
What are FPGA and Micro Controllers?
FPGA: A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured
by a customer or a designer after manufacturing hence "field-programmable". Its a complex of
logic gates and RAM blocks to implement complex digital computations.
It uses hardware description language and can be used for simple projects like traffic light control
to complex projects like aircraft or missile control.
Their advantage lies in that they are sometimes significantly faster for some applications due to
their parallel processing and optimality in terms of the number of gates used for a certain process.
Specific applications of FPGAs include digital signal processing, image processing, computer
vision, speech recognition and computer hardware emulation.