Control engineering or
control systems engineering is the
engineering discipline that applies
control theory to design systems with desired behaviors. The practice uses
sensors to measure the output performance of the device being controlled and those measurements can be used to give
feedback to the input
actuators that can make corrections toward desired performance. When a device is designed to perform without the need of human inputs for correction it is called
automatic control (such as
cruise control for regulating the speed of a car).
Multi-disciplinary in nature, control systems engineering activities focus on implementation of control systems mainly derived by
mathematical modeling of
systems of a diverse range.