ECE484

Chapter 2 Assignment

1. Find the Laplace Transform E(s) of e(t) = cos(t) for t

0, and show that

lim sE(s) = 0.

s!0

Explain why this does not contradict the Final Value Theorem.

2. Suppose that we have our usual feedback structure, and that

P (s) =

(s 2)
.
(s + 1)2

Our control objective is twofold:

closed loop stability

with r(t) = cos(t), wed like |e(t)| 0.02 for t

0.1 seconds.

Suppose that the controller C(s) is designed to achieve this objective; find a lower
bound on maxt2[0,0.1] |e(t)|.

3. Suppose we have our usual feedback structure and

P (s) =

(s

s
.
1)(s + 2)

Show that there is no stable C(s) which provides closed loop stability.
HINTS:
(s)
(a) One approach is to first write the controller in the form C(s) = k fg(s)
with f(s)
and g(s) monic. Assume that g(s) has roots only in the open LHP, and then
use a root locus argument to demonstrate that there must be a closed-loop
pole on the real line to the right of zero.

(b) A second approach is less intuitive but more rigorous. Suppose that the follow(s)
ing controller stabilizes P (s): C(s) = fg(s)
with f and g coprime, and g monic
of degree n. First show that the characteristic polynomial (s) satisfies
(0) =

2g(0)

and that for s real, positive, and large, we have

(s) sn+2 >> 0.
For closed loop stability,
can have no zeros on [0, 1); use the continuity of
to show that for closed loop stability, we need g(0) < 0. Use this to prove
that every stabilizing controller C(s) must be unstable.

4. Suppose that we have our usual feedback structure with

P (s) =

1
s

C(s) = K >> 1,

and a step input is applied.

(a) Find and sketch y(t).
(b) Find and sketch u(t).
Hence, while high-gain provides a nice transient as well as a nice steady-state response, it is at the expense of a large control input.

5. Suppose that we have the standard continuous-time feedback configuration. Determine which of the plant controller combinations are closed loop stable; justify your
answer.
(a) P (s) =

1
,
(s+1)(s 1)

(b) P (s) =

s+1
, C(s) = 10.
s2 s
s+1
, C(s) = 2s+1
.
s2 s
s+1
s 1
, C(s) = s+1
.
s2 +2s+1
s 1

(c) P (s) =
(d) P (s) =

C(s) =

s 1
.
s+2

(1 0.1s)(1+0.1s)
6. Let P (s) = (s
2 +2s+2)(s+15) . Estimate the settling time, %OS, and the time-to-peak
of its step response.

7. Consider a mass-spring-damper with a nonlinear spring yielding a model of

M y(t) + B y(t)
+ y 3 (t) + y 5 (t) = f (t);
here y(t) is the position and f (t) is the applied force.
(a) Suppose that the nominal value of f (t) is f = 2. If we apply f (t) = f, we
know that y(t) converges to a constant position (which we label y) as t ! 1.
Find y.
(b) Linearize the above systems about the nominal trajectory of (y(t), f (t)) =
(
y , f). Is this model stable (assuming that M and B are positive)?

8. Consider the problem of modelling a nonlinear valve by a static model of the form
y = ku2 . The input-output data is as follows:
u
0
1
2
3

noisy measurement of y
1
2
4
6

Find the least-squares estimate of k.

9. Consider the problem of modelling a linear static system with a model of

y = a1 u 1 + a2 u 2 .
The input-output data is as follows:
u1
1
1
2
3

u2
1
-1
1
1

noisy measurement of y
.2
1.9
.9
2.1

Find the least-squares estimates of a1 and a2 .