Harold Black's Feedback Invention

Outline

00:00 – Intro
04:43 – Life and background
08:45 – Bell Labs
13:42 – Inventing the negative feedback amplifier
18:15 – Nyquist's landmark contributions
20:43 – Regeneration theory
27:10 – Frequency response
32:03 – Cauchy’s argument principle
36:05 – The Nyquist criterion
41:37 – Why is it so hard?
45:27 – Robustness, margins, and practical aspects
56:41 – Beyond the Nyquist criterion
1:04:25 – Pitfalls and common misunderstandings
1:07:00 – Outro

Links

Brian Douglas's video: http://y2u.be/sof3meN96MA
The Idea Factory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idea_Factory
Inventing the Negative Feedback Amplifier: https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.1977.6501721
Johnson–Nyquist noise:  https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.32.110
Nyquist sampling theorem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist%E2%80%93Shannon_sampling_theorem
Regeneration theory: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1932.tb02344.x
Gain and phase margins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bode_plot#Gain_margin_and_phase_margin
Routh–Hurwitz criterion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Routh%E2%80%93Hurwitz_stability_criterion
Åström’s lecture: https://archive.control.lth.se/media/Staff/KarlJohanAstrom/Lectures/ASMENyquistLecture2005.pdf
Scale-Relative Graphs: https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2023.3234016

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Acknowledgments and sponsors
This episode was supported by the National Centre of Competence in Research on «Dependable, ubiquitous automation» and the IFAC Activity fund. The podcast benefits from the help of an incredibly talented and passionate team. Special thanks to L. Seward, E. Cahard, F. Banis, F. Dörfler, J. Lygeros, ETH studio and mirrorlake . Music was composed by A New Element.