Concept
Signal-flow graph
Related concepts (4)
Block diagram
A block diagram is a diagram of a system in which the principal parts or functions are represented by blocks connected by lines that show the relationships of the blocks. They are heavily used in engineering in hardware design, electronic design, software design, and process flow diagrams. Block diagrams are typically used for higher level, less detailed descriptions that are intended to clarify overall concepts without concern for the details of implementation.
Transfer function
In engineering, a transfer function (also known as system function or network function) of a system, sub-system, or component is a mathematical function that models the system's output for each possible input. They are widely used in electronic engineering tools like circuit simulators and control systems. In some simple cases, this function can be represented as two-dimensional graph of an independent scalar input versus the dependent scalar output, called a transfer curve or characteristic curve.
Control theory
Control theory is a field of control engineering and applied mathematics that deals with the control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines. The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the application of system inputs to drive the system to a desired state, while minimizing any delay, overshoot, or steady-state error and ensuring a level of control stability; often with the aim to achieve a degree of optimality. To do this, a controller with the requisite corrective behavior is required.
Laplace transform
In mathematics, the 'Laplace transform, named after its discoverer Pierre-Simon Laplace (ləˈplɑ:s), is an integral transform that converts a function of a real variable (usually , in the time domain) to a function of a complex variable (in the complex frequency domain, also known as s-domain', or s-plane). The transform has many applications in science and engineering because it is a tool for solving differential equations. In particular, it transforms ordinary differential equations into algebraic equations and convolution into multiplication.