Preview
IB DP Computer Science — A1 Computer fundamentals — Operating systems and control systems | HL | A1.3.6
📋 What You Will Learn
- Describe a control system as input → process → output, with or without feedback
- Distinguish open-loop from closed-loop control and justify which suits a task
- Describe the role of each component: controller, sensor, actuator, transducer and control algorithm
- Construct a simple control algorithm (thermostat with hysteresis) in pseudocode, Java and Python
- Trace the algorithm against a sequence of sensor readings
🚿 Why This Matters Adjusting a shower, you are a control system: your skin senses the temperature, your brain compares it with what you want, and your hand turns the tap — then you sense again. Take the human out and put a sensor, a controller and an actuator in: that is every thermostat, cruise control and autopilot.
The Control Loop: Input → Process → Output
📖 Definition — Control system A system that automatically monitors and regulates a physical