control system
Automated feedback loop
A control system is a set of components that regulates, commands, or manages the behavior of other systems or processes.
In engineering, control systems range from simple thermostats to complex autopilots—they monitor conditions, compare them to desired states, and make adjustments.
The building's control system manages heating, cooling, and lighting automatically.
The term extends to any organized mechanism of regulation: bureaucratic control systems, social control systems.
- feedback loopSelf-modifying cyclical process
- cyberneticsCommunication and control science
- actuatorDevice producing controlled motion
- valveFluid flow controller
- homeostasisBiological internal stability maintenance
setpoint · self-regulation · fault detection · sensors · negative feedback · robotics · mechanism · servomechanism · output · override · industrial automation · automation · monitor · input · servo · signal · switch · loop
- systemsecosystems, ecosystem, biological systems, transportation network, communication systems
- Factory Equipmentconveyor belt, assembly line, forklift, crane, boiler
- subsystemsdrivetrain, power supply
- subsea equipmentROV, umbilical, riser, manifold, wellhead
- gravitational wavesVirgo, interferometer, strain, waveform, detector
- snowmakingsnow gun, snow cannon, snowmaker, artificial snow, nucleator
control systemmanual operation
Control by human action
manual control · manual intervention · artisanal methods · manual labor
control systemchaos
Complete disorder and confusion
anarchy · disorder · entropy · randomness · instability
control, system, controller, controlled, controlling, controls, uncontrolled, controllable, controllers