454

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATIC CONTROL, VOL. AC-27, NO.

Contributions to the Model Reduction Problem

PER-OLOF GUTMAN. CARLFREDRIK MANNERFELT,
AND PER MOLANDER
Abstract -A new method of model reduction is introduced based on the
differentiation of polynomials. The reciprocals of the numerator and denominator polynomials of the high-order transfer function are differentiated suitablymany times to yield the coefficients of the reducedorder
transfer function. An error analysis shows the accuracy of the method. and
an eighth-order example illustrates it. The method is computationally very
simple and is equally applicable to unstable and nonminimum phase systems.

2, APRIL 1982

tions. the zeros of p,,- 1 ( 5 ) lie close to or inside the convex hull of the
zeros of p n ( s ) . In particular. if all zeros of p , ) ( 5 )have negative real part,
thenthesame
is true forthe zeros of p,-,(s). This is shownbythe
5 ) negative real part, then the
follow-ing argument: if all zeros of ~ , ~ ( have
to thelemma.the
sameholds for its reciprocalpolynomial.According
zeros of the derivative of the reciprocal polynomial \vi11 also have negative
p , , - , ( 5 ) . the normalized
real part. Finally. thesame will betruefor
reciprocal polynomial of the derivative.
Similarly, it can be shown that if all zeros of p J s ) have positive real
part. then the same is true for the zeros of p,#- 1 ( 51. and if all zeros of
p,,( 5 ) are real (imaginar).). then all the zeros of p,#- ,( 5 ) are real (imaginary) and inside the convex hull.
AIgorirhm: Let the transfer function be

I. INTRODUCTION
It is with somehesitation that we mingle into whatseems to be an
internal scientific affair [I]-[3]. butit is our feeling that themodel
reduction problem is an important one which has received far too little
attention in the literature. All contributions to the field. small or great.
should therefore be equally welcome.
Recall that themethodsuggestedbyKrishnamurthyandSeshadri
consists inseparately reducing the degrees of thenumeratoranddenominator polynomials of a given transfer function. Lotver order polynomials are generated from the Routh stability array.
Seriouscriticism on thesuggestedmethodhasbeenexertedbyRao.
Lamba. and Rao in [2] and by Sin& in [3]. Singhs critique brings fonvard
the so-called nonuniqueness of the algorithm. whereby it is meant that
different transfer functions give rise to the same model. Since any model
reductiontechnique
necessarily containsanoninjectivemapping.this
point is somewhat hard to understand, however.
As to the discussion in [2] and the companion Authors Reply. it is not
our intention to judge on the theoretical justification or the applicability
of the suggested method. Instead. wewish to point out that there
is a
great variety of ways to reduce the order of a given polynomial. Of these
we have chosen to study differentiation. an operation well known to all
persons with even a superficial contact n-ith mathematical analysis.
11.

THE ALGORITHM

We thus propose to use differentiation as a means to reduce the order

of a given polynomial. The question naturally ariseshow well a polynomial is approximated by its derivative. A partial answer is given in the
following lemma
Lemmu: Giventhepolynomial
,I

Pn(5)=U;

(1)

(s-:,)

,=I

then the zeros of p,:(s) d o not lie outside the convex hull of the zeros of

P( 5 1.
Proof: T h ~ result
s
is originally due to F. Gauss and F. Lucas. A proof
can be found in many elementary textbooks on analytical functions. e g .
[j.p. 841.
3
A drawback of straightfonvard differentiation is that zeros with a large
modulus tend to be better approximated thanthose with a small modulus.
Thisproblem is remedied. e.g.. by differentiatingthe reciprocalpoly-

Factorize q ( s ) = 4 ( s ) . 4 ( 5 ) and p ( s ) = p ( s ) - ~ j ( s where

).
Q ( 5 ) and b(s)
includethosezeros and poles of H ( 5 ) that you want to retain inthe
Hrcd(5).Reducetheorder
of $ 5 ) k ,
reduced-ordertransferfunction
times. and the order of p ( s ) k , times. each time according to (2). Let the
resulting polynomials be (ired(s)and jircd(5), respectively. Construct the
reduced-order transfer function

where C is a real constant.

Q ( 5 ) might.e.g..
includethezeroswhose
real parts are nonnegative:
b ( 5 ) might, e g . include the unstable poles. the purely imaginary poles,
the badly damped hgh-frequency poles. and the control poles. k , and k ,
are nonnegative. not necessarily equal integers chosen. e.g.. such that the
pole-zero excess of Hred(5 ) is equal to the pole-zero excess of H ( 5 ) . C is
adjusted to give the best approximation in the relevant frequency range.

0
111. ERROR ASALYSIS

It can be shown that if X, = k , = 1 and if the mean value of the zeros

and poles are approximately equal. then C can be chosen such that the
relative error between H ( 5 )and H , , , ( 5 ) is approximately zero in both the
high-frequency and low-frequency ranges. See [4].
IV. A NUMERICAL
~ M

P L E

The numerical example to be studied is the eighth-order example given

in [I]. When applying the algorithm we proceed as follows. As the system
is stableandminimumphase.
we let $ ( s ) = l and 4 ( 5 ) = I . Weset
k , = k , = k in order to get approximants H J s ) that are comparable to
those of [l]. T h ~ smeans that the pole-zero excess is kept equal to one and
that thehigh-frequencyslope of theBode plot is retained. C is chosen
such that the lowfrequency gainof the H,( 5 ) is equal to the low-frequency
gain of H ( s ) . Le.. C = 1. (In [ I ] the low frequency gain is also retained.)
The reduction is performed for k = 1.2: . ..7: i.e.. the reduced order
systems H,(s) are of order r = 8- X = 7.6.. . .. 1. For r = 5 and 2. the
transfer functions are

8
494412s4+6681024s3+30708720s2+579556XO~+40840800
H,(s) = - .
5 18102~+284880s4+1648200s~+4499040~2+6064800s+3225600
nomial.reciprocatingback,
and normalizing. tiiventhepolynomial
the reduced order polynomial then becomes

(1).

and
H,(s) = 4 .

(2)
F~~ polynomials

occuning in linear systems transfer func-

Manuscript received December 23. 1980: rcrised July 25. 1981.

The author?.are mith the Department of AutomaticControl.Lund
og?. S220 07 Sneden.
Lund.

Institute of Technol-

347734080s +980 179200

26994240~+14555j200~+19~536000~
The pole-zero locationsaretabulated
inTable I. It is apparenthow well
the poles and zeros of the reduced-order systems approximatethose of the
original system. Note especially that the number of complex poles and
Of the approsimants never exceed the number Of complex poles and
zeros of the original
transfer
function.
This isin
case
indeed
the
not
[ 11.

0018-9ZX6/82/0400-0454500.75

cl982 IEEE

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATIC CONTROL. VOL.

AC-27.NO. 2.455
APRIL 1982
prohlern." Dep. Automar. Cmtr.. Lund ImtTechnd. Lund. Swcdcn. Tech. Rep.
CODEX: L U T F D ~ / [ T F R T - ? ~ I I I , ~ I - ~ I ~ , ; ~Dec
~ I YIYXO
X~).
j5] E. Hrlle. .Afluhrrwl F~uxrro~r
T h e m . bo1 I
Kew York: Bla~sddell.1959.

TABLE I
Order of
Approximant

Poles

r=8
(exact)
-5.

-I

Zeros

= /. - 1. -3. -4.

- 1.03C0.63li.-2.64.

-8. -10

r=l

-7.80,
-4.90.
-3.83,
-9.7ga

-1.12.-1.19~1.06r.
-3.78,
-4.41.
-6.24.
-4.15.
- 9.05

r=6

-1.20=0.668r.-2.93.
-6.06,-8.83

1.27. - 1.45-t 1.10;.

- 1.4220.696r. -3.32.
-3.65.
-5.18.
-7.72
-4.97.-7.49

r=5
- 1.48. - 1.802 1.09;.
-6.19 -6.45 -4.21.

r=4

-2.15~0.6391, -4.90

- 1.76, -2.29-CO.948i.

1.71 kO.698i.
-3.89.

- 5.23

r=3

-2.18.-2.79,-3.22
-2.65,-3.02

r=2

-7.38,-3.01

r= I

- 2.66

- 2.82

A Comparison Between Youla and

Wolovich Compensators
A. J. ALOS
Ahstruct-This note shows that the set of controllers that stabilize a
given plantwithunity
feedack is largerthan the set of stabilizing controllers using the observer-controller configuration.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Let R"""(s) be the set of rational HI X H matrices and let & be the ring
PE R"'""(s)
of proper and stable rational functions. Consider a plant
and let (!V. D ) and ( E , ,i') beany right coprimeandleftcoprime
Then there exist matrices X and Y over 5 of
factorizations of P over
appropriate dimension such that

s.

XX

"In [I]. the zeros are Incorrect

+ YD= I .

It has been shown [ I ] that the set of controllers that stabilize the plant
P with unity feedback (Youla compensators) is given by
~ ^ ( P ) = { ( Y - R , ~ ) - ' ( x + R E ) : RES^'"^^}.

It has also been shown [2] that the

set of controllers that stabilize a
given plant P using an observer-controller structure as proposed in [3]
(the M/:olovich compensator) is given by
2z(P)={(l+vY)-IvX: V - D E % }
I

0 01

'

'

'

'

'

103

'

'

wlmd/sI

where B is the set of unimodular matrices.

In this note we show that the set C( P ) properly contains the set 2=(P ) .
11. A COMPARISON

Claim; C?:( P ) is a proper subset of 2( P).

Prooj
I ) We first prove that ?:( P ) ?( P ) [4]. That is. every compensator
in 2
: is in 2.
Assume a compensator in
given by (1 - V Y ) - I V X . Then there is a
2 if andonly if thereexist R anda
correspondingcompensatorin
unimodular li such that

Y-R.i'=Li(I+VY)
Fig. I .

X+ R D = C V X .

Bode plots for I l ( s ) .H5(rl. H l ( s ) . H , l s )

(1)

Adjoining the two equations. we obtain

As may be seen from Fig. 1. the frequency responce pattern is excellently preserved in the reduced systems. even for low-order approximants.
Judgingfrom t h s example, the method suggested hereseems tobe
superior to that proposed in [ I ] .

Postmultiplyingbothsides of theequation by

[E ];
-

andrecalling

the Bezout identity

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We wish to thank Prof. S . Spanne. Department of Mathematics, Lund

Institute of Technology. for pointing outthe classical nature of the lemma
in Section 11.

we have

REFERENCES
V. Krishnamurth? and V . Seshadn. "Model reduction using the Routh stability
criterion." I E E E Trulrs. A r o o n m . Comr rol. AC-23. pp 729-731. Aug 197X.
A. S Rao. S. S. Lamha. and S. V Rao. "Comment> on 'Model rcductlon using the
Routh stability criterion."' I E E E Trmo. .Auronwr Conrr.. bo1 A C - I 4 p 5 1 8 . June

="[D-V,-X].

1979.

V Singh. "Konulliqueness of model reduction uang thc Routh approach." IEIII:

7 r u m Au~onrur Cmrr.. bol. AC-24. pp. 650-651. Aug. 1979.
P 0. Gutrnan. C. F. Mannerfelt. and P. Molander. "On the mcdel reduction

Manuscript received August I X. I98 I : rewsed October I?. 19X I

The author u ' a on leave at the Department of Electnwl Engineering. University of
Waterloo. Waterlm. Ont.. Canada. He is uith the Department of Electrical Engineenng.
Facult> of byneering. Universlt? of Lagos. Lagos. Nlgena.

0018-92S6/82/~~-0455$00.75'El982 IEEE