Control engineering 路 Free
MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems
Control engineering with the tools engineers actually use: the MATLAB and Simulink environment, transfer functions and block diagrams, time response, stability with Routh-Hurwitz and root locus, frequency response with Bode, Nyquist and Nichols, loop shaping, PID design and tuning, feedforward, gain scheduling and delays, state space, pole placement, LQR and observers, physical modelling and system identification, Simulink for electrical engineers, and implementation in discrete time.
Inside the course
From the lessons
The MATLAB and Simulink Environment
by emobility-in
Transfer Functions and Block Diagrams
KKDexplains
Stability: Routh-Hurwitz and Root Locus
KKDexplains
Control Design with Bode Plots
MATLAB
Feedforward, Gain Scheduling, Delays and Notch Filters
MATLAB
Modern Control: Pole Placement, LQR and Observers
KKDexplains
Lesson frames belong to the creators named in the Credits below and are shown from YouTube.
What you will learn
Model systems as transfer functions and state space in MATLAB, simulate them in Simulink, analyse time and frequency response and stability, design and tune PID, lead-lag, pole-placement and LQR controllers, add feedforward and gain scheduling, identify models from data, model electrical and mechanical systems, and implement controllers in discrete time.
- Use MATLAB and Simulink for modelling and simulation
- Analyse transfer functions, time response and stability
- Read Bode, Nyquist and Nichols plots and shape loops
- Design and tune PID, lead-lag, pole-placement and LQR controllers
- Model physical systems and identify models from data
- Implement controllers in discrete time
For you
Taking MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems from the United States
- Free in the United States, as everywhere, and self-paced: lessons, notes and the final assessment are open at any hour, so your time zone and shift pattern do not matter.
- The optional certificate for learners in the United States is a one-off US$28.99. What you get for it
- Plants across the Americas most often run Allen-Bradley, Siemens and Inductive Automation; each has its own free course to take next.
- See automation and engineering jobs in the United States, and what the industry looks like in Houston, Detroit and Chicago.
- EDWartens also has a regional site for the United States, for classroom training and local support: edwartens.com/us.
The course project 路 about 20 hours
Tote positioning at a pick-station: identify, design, simulate and trace one loop in Simulink
Take a conveyor positioning loop from requirements to a discrete controller ready for a PLC: identify the belt drive as a first-order-plus-delay plant from a recorded step test, design a PD position controller on the root locus and verify its Bode margins, build the Simulink model to a written structure with plant variants, run the simulation tests against the numbered requirements, discretise the controller at the PLC cycle time and show what a slower cycle does to the margins, and deliver the traceability matrix and the model versioning procedure. The sample pack shows what a model-based-design engineer hands to the integrator's software team.
Sample document pack, 7 documents, filled in for the scenario
- URSUser Requirements: Pick-Station 3 Tote Positioning Loop
- ReportPlant Model Report: Identification of the Belt Drive from Step Tests
- ReportController Design Report: PD Position Loop by Root Locus, Verified on Bode
- SDSSoftware Design Specification: Simulink Model PS3_Positioning and PLC Transcription
- Test reportSimulation Test Report: Model Release v1.2 against URS Rev B
- Traceability matrixRequirements Traceability Matrix: URS Rev B to Design and Test, Release v1.2
- ProcedureProcedure: Model Versioning, Release and PLC Coefficient Control
Read inside the course and download as a workbook. The project is optional practice, marked when you submit it; the certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
Course content
15 modules 路 101 lessons 路 15h 25m
In order, at whatever pace suits you. Each module ends with a practice task that builds on the last.
- 01The MATLAB and Simulink Environment10 lessons1h 16m
- 02What Control Engineers Do and Control Theory Overview5 lessons48m
- 03Transfer Functions and Block Diagrams7 lessons44m
- 04Time Response5 lessons47m
- 05Stability: Routh-Hurwitz and Root Locus7 lessons58m
- 06Frequency Response: Bode, Nyquist and Nichols7 lessons57m
- 07Control Design with Bode Plots5 lessons32m
- 08PID Design and Tuning8 lessons1h 4m
Requirements
- Who it is for
- Intermediate. Engineering mathematics (Laplace transforms) is assumed.
- Software
- MATLAB and Simulink with Control System Toolbox (trial, student or MATLAB Online) What to download, and how
- Hardware
- None required.
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
Required
- 01Free edition with limits
MATLAB and Simulink
MathWorks
- Runs on
- Browser for MATLAB Online; desktop on Windows 10 or 11, macOS or Linux
- Account
- A free MathWorks account
- Size
- about 5 to 8 GB of disk space for a typical desktop installation
Every MathWorks account gets MATLAB Online (basic): 20 hours a month in the browser with MATLAB, Simulink and nine common toolboxes. A 30-day trial adds desktop and online access to MATLAB, Simulink and over 80 products. MATLAB Onramp and Simulink Onramp are free self-paced courses.
Steps
- 1.Create a free MathWorks account at mathworks.com.
- 2.Take MATLAB Onramp and Simulink Onramp in MATLAB Academy to learn the basics.
- 3.Open MATLAB Online in your browser to use the free 20 hours each month.
- 4.If you need the desktop version, start the 30-day trial from the Trials page.
- 5.Download the MathWorks installer, sign in and select MATLAB, Simulink and the toolboxes your course uses.
- Onramp courses and MATLAB Mobile do not count against the 20 monthly hours.
- Start the 30-day trial only when you are ready, as it runs continuously from activation.
Official download pagemathworks.comAlternatives
- MATLAB Onramp: Free two-hour interactive course in the browser.
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems at a glance
MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for engineering students and control engineers. It has 15 modules and 15h 25m of video lessons by KKDexplains, MATLAB, emobility-in and others, with written notes and worked problems, a practical project with a document pack and a 15-question final assessment (pass mark 60%). Learning is free with an account; an optional certificate with a public verification code is issued when you pass. Last updated 27 September 2026.
All course factsHide course facts
- Price
- Free, for good. No trial, no card. The only paid item is the optional certificate, a small one-off fee.
- Who it is for
- Engineering students and control engineers
- Format
- 15 self-paced modules, 15h 25m of video, written notes, a practice task per module and one final assessment.
- Level
- Intermediate. Intermediate. Engineering mathematics (Laplace transforms) is assumed.
- Brand
- MathWorks
- Software
- MATLAB and Simulink with Control System Toolbox (trial, student or MATLAB Online)
- Hardware
- None required.
- Certificate
- Optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code. Not a vendor credential.
- Video lessons by
- KKDexplains, MATLAB, emobility-in, Safey El-Deen Abdo (independent creators, credited below)
- Language
- English
- Last updated
- 27 September 2026
A shareable EDWartens certificate
Finish every module and pass the final assessment, and the optional EDWartens certificate is yours. It carries a unique verification code on a public page anyone can check, so it stands up when a recruiter looks it up. See it below.
The course itself stays free whether or not you ever buy one.
Stuck? Ask a practising engineer
A free course usually means a comment section and hope. This one does not. Every module has an Ask-your-trainer panel that reaches the same engineers who teach our paid programme: people who commission panels for a living, not moderators.
Pairs well with
PLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA PortalFrom zero electrical knowledge to a working, simulated S7-1200 program, for nothing.
PLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA Portal in Three HoursThe first three hours of the Siemens TIA Portal course, cut to end on a win: what a PLC is, how it is wired, a project configured in TIA Portal, and your first ladder program running in simulation. Finish it in an evening or two, earn a certificate, and carry straight on into the full course.
PLC programming 路 FreeTIA Portal: Build a MachineOne machine, start to finish. Take a bottle filling line from a written specification and an I/O list to a structured S7-1200 program with a fill station, a capper, a reject sorter and an operator screen with alarms, then test it against a written record and archive it for hand-over. The lessons are the reference; the machine is yours, and it is what you submit.
Instrumentation 路 FreeInstrumentation for PLC EngineersThe half of the loop that is not code. Follow one measurement from the transmitter in the field, down the 4-20 mA loop, into the analog card, through NORM_X and SCALE_X into engineering units, out again to a valve, and back to the control room when the reading is wrong.More free courses: Free control engineering and PID courses
Learning paths with this course
- Control theory to the loop 路 4 coursesMATLAB and Simulink for the theory, PID control for the practice, instrumentation for the signals and VFDs for the actuators.
Learner reviews
No reviews yet
Reviews here are written only by learners who have finished every module of MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems, and they are published exactly as written. Finish the course and yours will be the first.
Common questions
Is MATLAB free?
No, but MATLAB Online, the student licence and the trial all include Simulink and Control System Toolbox for the course.
How much maths?
Laplace transforms, complex numbers and matrices; the course reviews what it uses.
Is this useful for PLC people?
Yes: it is the theory behind the PID block, the VFD tuning screen and the servo autotune.
Is the MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems course really free?
Yes. Every module, practice task and assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and the assessments can be marked. The certificate is the only paid item, and only if you want it.
What certificate do I get, and is it a vendor qualification?
An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you pass the final assessment, with a verification code anyone can check. It is not a vendor credential and is never described as one.
Who made the video lessons in the MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems course?
The creators named in the Credits block at the foot of this page, on their own YouTube channels. EDWartens did not make the videos and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
How long does the MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems course take?
Plan on about 23 hours in all, including the video lessons, notes and practice tasks. It is self-paced, so you work through the fifteen modules at your own speed.
What you walk away with
Your certificate for MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems
Finish the course, pass the final, and this is the document with your name on it.
Verifiable by anyone
Adds to LinkedIn in one click
QR code on the certificate
Names what you can do
A permanent link
Earned, not attended
Learning is free. The certificate is optional.
Add it now and pay only when you have finished the course, or come back for it later. One-off, US$28.99, with a receipt.
Issued by EDWartens, the training division of Wartens, as a Certificate of Completion for this self-paced course. Sold by Wartens Ltd (England and Wales). It is not a vendor certification, a university award or a CPD-accredited activity, and it does not certify competence on live equipment. Delivered electronically; see the refund policy.
Credits
Who made the video lessons
The video lessons in this course were created by the people below, not by EDWartens. Every lesson streams from its creator's own YouTube channel; EDWartens neither hosts nor sells that footage, and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens and do not endorse this course. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
- KKDexplainsthe control systems and MATLAB Simulink tutorials
- MATLABthe control system design and analysis playlist
- MATLABthe Control Systems in Practice series
- emobility-inthe MATLAB/Simulink for electrical engineers course
- Safey El-Deen Abdothe Matlab Simulink course playlist
If you are one of these creators and would like a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@wartens.com.