Professor Ku states i1~ his Preface, "This book has been written to provide electrical and mechanical engineers with a fundamental treatment of feedback control systems. The material here presented can serve as a text for an undergraduate course in control engineering. Since feedback control is a rapidly developing field, this text can well serve as the basis of a first year graduate course."
The accuracy arid scope of this text is a direct reflection upon the knowledge and authority of its writer. Its exposition is clear and precisely stated and the context logically developed.
Chapter 1 discusses the nature of linear physical systems, and electrical and mechanical analogs, with reference to mathematical representation of physical systems. Block diagrams and signal flow graphs are introduced. Chapter 2 deals with linear network analysis. Chapter 3 gives a treatment of Laplace transforms as required for linear control systems. Ch.~pter 4 gives the frequency response method arid the Bode diagram. The Nyquist criterion, the Routh-Hurwitz criterion and root-locus method treated in Chaps. 5-7 are well-illustrated with many numerical examples. Also Chap. 6 gives the solution of algebraic equations by Cardan's method for the cubic equation, Ku'.~ method and Ferrari's method for the quartic equation, and Graeffe's method and Lin's method for higher-order algebraic equations.
Control system performance in the frequency domain--static error-coefficients, phase margin, gain margin, bandwidth and the maximum modulus--are discussed in Chap. 8. Chapter 9 includes an account of control system performance in the time domain (determination of overshoot, the peak time, rise time, delay time, optimum performance criteria, and Floyd's method and '~n in-plant or after-hours course for young engineers or for the practicing engineer wishing to supplement his knowledge of the field in an easily-followed text for self-study.