Chapter nine

These tutorials are on the theme of discrete time linear models, for example:

y_k+a₁y_k-1 + ...+ a_ny_k-n = b₁u_k-1 + ...+ b_nu_k-n

where y(t) is the output, u(t) the input and a_i, b_i are model parameters. The subscript 'k' denotes the sampling index.

Core skills are things such as:

• What do I mean by a discrete model/signal and how do I find a discrete mathematical model representation of a real physical system?

• How do such systems behave and how does the behaviour link to the model parameters?

• Are there generic analysis tools that help with understanding?

It is implicit that students have core competence in some mathematical topics such as polynomials, roots, complex numbers, exponentials and Laplace.