PID control: the background to simple tuning methods

We need to find some methods for choosing the value of the PID gains in the PID controller algorithm. Although the tuning of the controller can be done in a heuristic manner, it is very time-consuming to find, if at all, appropriate gains which would satisfy the performance specifications on the system. We therefore need a procedure for choosing which terms to include in our controller and how to find the actual values of the controller gains. This chapter provides an introduction to the problem of tuning the PID controller. We take a look at PI, PD and finally PID design problems. We meet manual tuning and simple pole placement methods.