This book, now in its second edition, presents in a comprehensive manner the fundamentals of computer-based control of industrial processes. Intended primarily for undergraduate and postgraduate students of instrumentation/electronics engineering, the book will also be immensely useful for professionals and researchers in these fields.

The book begins with a thorough introduction to automation—its history, utility and the current scenario. It then moves on to discuss in detail the techniques, components, subsystems and system architectures relevant to process control. The control techniques covered include classical controls as well as newer controls such as model-based adaptive control, self-tuning control, expert systems and fuzzy logic control. The components consist of sensors and actuators of various types. The subsystems covered are SCADA systems, remote terminal units for telemetry and telecontrol, programmable controllers, distributed digital controllers and personal computers.

Also included are real-time operating systems and real-time programming languages. The major architectures discussed are distributed digital control, distributed SCADA system and multi-microprocessor architectures.

The book thoroughly covers the various technological developments in this field. It also covers, through a number of case studies, the applications of computer-based control in major industries.

Contents
Foreword • Preface
Preface to First Edition
Acknowledgements
0. Introduction
1. Fundamentals of Automatic Process Control
2. Transducers: Present and Future
3. Building Blocks of Automation System
4. Final Control Element
5. Display Systems
6. Direct Digital Control: Structure and Software
7. Distributed Digital Control
8. Real-time Programming
9. Personal Computer in Real-time Environment
10. Programmable Controllers
11. Modeling and Simulation for Plant Automation
12. Industrial Control Applications
13. Intelligent Controllers
Bibliography • Index