Purpose
Running the GUI
Using the GUI

Purpose

The purpose of this Graphical User Interface (GUI) is to allow the user to view an animation of the Bus Suspension system with the step disturbance response plot. This allows the user to see the correlation between the plot and the systems physical response.

The animation and GUI are based on the Bus Suspension: Root Locus example. For more information on the system model please refer to the Bus Suspension: Modeling page.

Running the GUI

busgui.m - contains the interface and controls.
busfun.m - contains the GUI callback function.

Once these files are copied into your MATLAB directory, simply enter the following command:

busGUI

Using the GUI

The first group of controls contains the RUN and RESET buttons. These controls perform most of the work in the GUI.

RUN - This button performs the simulation, plots the response in the upper-right axes and runs the animation in the lower-right axes.

RESET - This control clears the upper-right step response plot and sets the bus model to it's initial position. If a plot is not cleared the next run will be plotted on the same plot. This is useful if you want to see graphically the difference changing some values makes.

An example of the animation and response plot are shown below. It should be noted that the bus appears only with one wheel because because only a quarter model was used in our system.

This group of controls contains checkboxes that allow the user to change various features of the GUI.

MANUAL ADVANCE - If this control is checked the user is able to advance the animation and plot one frame at a time. The frames are advanced by pressing any key on the keyboard. This function is useful is the animation moves to fast for the user and will allow the user to see everything that is going on.

PLOT SEPARATELY - By checking this box the step response plot is graphed in its entirety before the animation is run.

This control allows you to select the gain of the controller.

GAIN SLIDER - The slider allows you to change the controller gain, thereby changing the open-loop pole locations. The open-loop root locus can be viewed in the lower-left corner of the GUI. Changing the gain will change the pole locations in the root locus. You can click on the arrows to move the slider, grab the the slider bar and move it, or click on the slider to change the gain. The current value of the gain is displayed in the upper portion of the box.

An example of the root locus plot is shown below. The red crosses (+'s) represent the pole locations corresponding to the selected gain.

REMEMBER, this GUI is intended to be an interactive learning tool that will allow the user to get a feeling for how some basic control techniques and ideas are represented in the real world. Therefore, the user is encouraged to PLAY around with this tool to enhance their understanding of controls.

Bus Suspension Examples

Modeling | PID | Root Locus | Frequency Response | State Space | Digital Control | Simulink

Animations

Bus Suspension | Inverted Pendulum | Pitch Controller | Ball & Beam

Tutorials

MATLAB Basics | MATLAB Modeling | PID | Root Locus | Frequency Response | State Space | Digital Control | Simulink Basics | Simulink Modeling | Examples | Animations