Notes on Modern Control

Carlos Xavier Rosero Chandi

Contents
1 Introduction to Modern Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Dynamic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2.1 Response versus Pole Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.1 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.2 Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1 Introduction to Modern Control

Before entering modern control, the student must have a clear idea on how to obtain
the dynamic model of a system. In addition, before designing a control system
by any technique it is important to know how to recognize how well a trial design
matches the desired performance. The latter can be achieved by solving the dynamic
equations of the system model.
There are two way to solve the dynamic equations: approximate and precise. The
approximate analysis is based on linear analysis techniques and provides insight into
features of the solution and changes in the system in order to modify the response
in a desired direction. In contrast, the precise analysis uses numerical techniques to
solve the system equations.
This chapter focuses on the approximate analysis but also briefly includes nu-
merical methods and computer tools to solve the time response of linear systems.

2 Dynamic Response
The dynamic response of systems can be studied within three domains: s-plane,
frequency response and state-space. This section shows useful mathematical tools
for analysis in the s-plane and frequency response.
It is assumed that the student has acquired clear knowledge about linear systems
and techniques in time domain and frequency domain to operate with them. Thus,
fundamental operations with signals and systems such as convolution and Laplace
transform are dominated by the reader.

1
2 Dynamic Response 2

2.1 Response versus Pole Locations

The transfer function G(s) obtained from a system of simultaneous ordinary differ-
ential equations (ODEs) is a ratio of s-domain polynomials, as in
N (s)
G(s) = K , (1)
D(s)
where N (s) represents the numerator and D(s) the denominator and both have no
common factors that can be annulled. K is a constant multiplier called gain.
In the transfer function in (1), poles are the values of s such that D(s) = 0 and
represent the points where G(s) = ∞. Zeros are the values of s such that N (s) = 0
and represent the points where G(s) = 0. These poles, zeros and gain describe
completely G(s).
The natural response of a system is called also impulse response and is one of
the fundamental concepts of linear time-invariant (LTI) systems theory. Recall that
the time function corresponding to the transfer function is the impulse response.
Then, the poles and zeros of the transfer function can be used to compute the time
response of the function and to identify time histories with respect to pole locations
in the s-plane, e.g. the poles identify the classes of signals contained in the impulse
response.
Considering a transfer function with a first order pole, by computing the inverse
Laplace transform it can be obtained
 
−1 1
L G(s) = → g(t) = e−σt 1(t), (2)
s+σ
where g(t) represents the impulse response (note that 1 means unit impulse). Two
cases can be considered when analyzing e−σt , developed using Matlab with the code
in Fig. 1 and shown in Fig. 2. The cases are:
1. When σ > 0, the single pole is located at s < 0, the exponential expression
decays and therefore g(t) is stable.

2. When σ < 0, the single pole is located at s > 0, the exponential grows with
time and therefore g(t) is unstable.

2.1.1 Example
Compute the time response with the pole locations for the system in
5s + 1
G(s) = (3)
s2 + 5s + 6
Solution: The numerator can be reduced as N (s) = 5s + 1 = 5(s + 0.2) and the
denominator can be expressed as D(s) = s2 + 5s + 6 = (s + 2)(s + 3). Then, G(s)
has one zero at s = −0.2 and two stable poles at s = −2 and s = −3. The partial
fraction expansion of G(s) yields
9 14
G(s) = − + , (4)
s+2 s+3
 2 Dynamic Response 3

1 %% Impulse r e s p o n s e
2 t = − 1 0 : 0 . 0 0 1 : 2 0 ; %time v e c t o r
3 sigma = [ 0 . 8 , 0 . 9 9 9 9 9 9 ] ;
4 %% P o s i t i v e sigma
5 gVector = [ ] ;
6 f o r i = 1 : 1 : l e n g t h ( sigma )
7 g=exp(−sigma ( i ) ∗ t ) ;
8 gVector =[ gVector ; g ] ;
9 end
10 figure
11 subplot (1 ,2 ,1)
12 p l o t ( t , gVector ( 1 : l e n g t h ( sigma ) , : ) ) ;
13 l e g e n d ( ’ \ sigma =0.8 ’ , ’ \ sigma =0.999999 ’ )
14 xlim ( [ − 3 , 5 ] ) , ylim ( [ 0 , 8 ] )
15 x l a b e l ( ’ Time ( s ) ’ )
16 y l a b e l ( ’ Impulse r e s p o n s e h ( t ) ’ )
17 %% N e g a t i v e sigma
18 sigma=−sigma ;
19 gVector = [ ] ;
20 f o r i = 1 : 1 : l e n g t h ( sigma )
21 g=exp(−sigma ( i ) ∗ t ) ;
22 gVector =[ gVector ; g ] ;
23 end
24 subplot (1 ,2 ,2)
25 p l o t ( t , gVector ( 1 : l e n g t h ( sigma ) , : ) ) ;
26 l e g e n d ( ’ \ sigma =−0.8 ’ , ’ \ sigma = −0.999999 ’ )
27 xlim ( [ − 7 , 3 ] ) , ylim ( [ 0 , 8 ] )
28 x l a b e l ( ’ Time ( s ) ’ )
29 y l a b e l ( ’ Impulse r e s p o n s e h ( t ) ’ )

Fig. 1: Code to generate impulse response using Matlab software

where by inspection, the inverse Laplace transform results in

g(t) = −9e−2t + 14e−3t , ∀t ≥ 0. (5)

Looking at (5), the term e−3t decays faster than e−2t , i.e. the signal corresponding
to the pole at −3 decays faster than the signal corresponding to the pole at −2. The
role of the numerator in the partial-fraction expansion is to influence the size of the
coefficient that multiplies each component, that is −9 and 14 in (4).
In general, poles further to the left in the s-plane represents natural signals that
decay faster than those associated with poles closer to the imaginary axis.

2.1.2 Exercise
Propose different second order transfer functions that comply with the following
cases:
2 Dynamic Response 4

8 8
= 0.8 = -0.8
7 = 0.999999 7 = -0.999999

Impulse response h(t)

Impulse response h(t)

6 6

5 5

4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

0 0
-2 0 2 4 -6 -4 -2 0 2
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 2: Example of first-order system response when σ > 0 leading to stability (left)
and σ < 0 leading to instability (right)

• Decays fast (stable)

• Decays slow (stable)

• Decays with oscillations (stable)

• Grows fast (unstable)

• Grows slow (unstable)

• Grows with oscillations (unstable)

• Remains constant (critically stable)

HINT: Read carefully the document, try changing the place of poles, apply the
same analysis from the example and use the given matlab code.

WORK TO BE DONE: Plot the impulse responses using matlab and write
a short report including the transfer functions and plots. Upload the pdf to the
virtual platform individually (more than one student is not allowed) before the
given deadline.