What control engineers should know about industry 4.0

Control engineering is a well-established discipline with a long and prominent his-
tory1. It is diverse in its applications but has a strong unifying core to it: the notion of
dynamic systems and control theory. Many engineers will have encountered it as part
of their education, as control engineering courses are taught to electrical, mechanical,
chemical, aerospace, and industrial engineers. Quite often, though, this is the only
time that engineers consciously encounter the subject of control systems.
While control engineering is rooted in mathematical theory and tools, Industry 4.0
relies on a variety of technologies. Industry 4.0 is a new and still-evolving paradigm in
which digitalization is expected to revolutionize industry and core technologies are
still emerging. The term was coined in 2011.