Python Control System Library

RMM, 23 May 09

This directory contains the source code for the Python Control Systems Library (python-control). This package provides a library of standard control system algorithms in the python programming environment.

Installation

Using pip

Pip is a python packaging system. It can be installed on debian based linux distros with the command:

sudo apt-get install pip

Pip can then be used to install python-control:

sudo pip install control

From Source

Standard python package installation:

python setup.py install

To see if things are working, you can run the script examples/secord-matlab.py (using ipython -pylab). It should generate a step response, Bode plot and Nyquist plot for a simple second order linear system.

Testing

You can also run a set of unit tests to make sure that everything is working correctly. After installation, run:

python runtests.py

Slycot

Routines from the Slycot wrapper are used for providing the functionality of several routines for state-space, transfer functions and robust control. Many parts of python-control will still work without slycot, but some functionality is limited or absent, and installation of Slycot is definitely recommended. The Slycot wrapper can be found at:

https://github.com/jgoppert/Slycot

and can be installed with:

sudo pip install slycot