This page contains links to supplementary notes and demos as they’re developed for the course. Most of them are in .pdf and/or Mathcad format, so you can view them with Mathcad Explorer. The advantage of Mathcad format is that you can make changes in the parameters and see the results. The graphs are also easier to read, because the curves are in different colours. A few of them are intended for viewing with a regular browser (Netscape, Explorer), and are identified as such.

• Refresher on complex numbers and variables. Read this one first! (PDF) (MCD)
• Refresher on shifting, stretching and reversing functions. (MCD) (PDF)
• Examples of convolution in continuous time. (PDF) (MCD)
• Animated demonstrations of convolution in continuous time. (MCD) . Also collected into an html version for viewing with a regular browser.
• How to deal with discontinuities in the initial conditions of differential equations (PDF)
• Complex exponentials and orthogonality. Read this before starting complex Fourier series. (PDF) (MCD)
• Fourier series: background and examples covering calculation of coefficients, equivalence of complex and sine/cosine forms, filtering of periodic signals, etc., etc. (PDF) (MCD)
• Fourier example from another university (html).
• Animated demonstration and explanation of aliasing (MCD).
• Poles, zeros and system response - an animated demonstration of how they're all linked (MCD) . You can see a summary of just the animations here.
• The Laplace transform - how it is linked to Fouries series and transform, how to calculate it and invert it by residues. (PDF)
• Sketching asymptotic Bode plots - the cookbook for quick sketches. (PDF) (MCD)
• Notes on resonance, from a previous incarnation of this course (PDF)
• How to simplify block diagrams (PDF)
• DC machines - background and examples of use in servomechanisms (PDF)
• Tutorials from Carnegie-Mellon on analysis and design of control systems using Matlab. Even if you don't use Matlab, the modeling parts of this site are worth reading.
• Frequency response of discrete time systems by means of the z-transform. Examples: DC null (PDF) (MCD); AC null (PDF) (MCD); resonance (PDF) (MCD)
• Final exam summary sheet - "the official crib sheet of ENSC 380" (PDF)