Question

Which control strategy is used to anticipate disturbances before they affect the process?

• A. Feedback control
• B. Feedforward control
• C. Cascade control
• D. On-off control

Hint:

Feedforward control = proactive. Feedback control = reactive. If you see “anticipate disturbances,” think feedforward.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

In control systems, various strategies are employed to maintain stability and desired performance. Feedforward control is a proactive control strategy that anticipates the effect of disturbances and compensates for them before they impact the process output.
The feedforward controller measures the disturbance directly and applies a compensating control action to counteract its impact. This is in contrast to feedback control, which responds after the disturbance has already affected the process.
Let’s evaluate the options:
- Feedback control waits for the error to occur before taking corrective action — it is reactive, not anticipatory.
- Cascade control uses a secondary loop to improve primary loop performance but still relies on feedback.
- On-off control is a basic control mechanism with binary output and does not anticipate disturbances.
Hence, feedforward control is the only option designed specifically to act in advance of a disturbance.