Developement Of A Batch Mode For Conduit And Its ... - Cal Poly

created. Called GIFCOCODE, it incorporated a simple GUI with custom-made specs.
While the graphical output was an improvement from the original CONSOL-OPTCAD,
the problem was still hard-wired, making it of little use.
The program was reworked again, in order to account for these deficiencies. An
easy to use graphical interface was thus created. In addition, this new version was to be
flexible, allowing the user to quickly change the problem definition. A library of
modular specifications was created, allowing the user to pick specs for the particular
problem. This new version allowed the user to set up and optimize a problem in a matter
of hours, shortening the design cycle. Multiple competing specs could be used, as this is
accounted for in GIFCOCODE. Finally, changes in the system became inconsequential,
since the system could be evaluated in a matter of minutes. This latest evolution of the
original CONSOL-OPTCAD code was called CONDUIT (Control Designer’s Unified
Interface).
CONDUIT is a versatile design tool which allows the control engineer to rapidly
design an optimized control system, based on multiple handling qualities specifications,
in a graphical environment. The control system to be optimized is modeled using
MATLAB Simulink. Parameters of the block diagram are defined such that they may be
varied by CONSOL-OPTCAD in the optimization. Handling qualities specifications, are
represented in CONDUIT as modules, allowing the user to “plug-in” only those needed
for the particular problem. Specs are represented graphically, as shown in Figure 2, often
mirroring their appearances from their source.
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