Effects of poles and zeros on performance of control systems

Dominantly rst order systems. Effects of additional poles and zeros on performance of a rst order control system

1.1 Step response of a rst order system

Consider a rst order system of the form x = ax + r, or, equivalently, X(s) = 1 R(s). s+a

Let r(t) be a unit step input, i.e, R(s) = 1 . Then, assuming x(0) = 0, s X(s) = and 1 1/a 1/a = , s(s + a) s s+a

1 1 as t . x(t) = (1 eat ), and x(t) a a The output of the system monotonically approaches to the nal value of 1/a; the rate of convergence is exponential and is determined by the pole of the system at s = a. Note that the time constant of the transient is = 1/a is also related to the location of the pole. To achieve a desired rate of convergence, the designer must place the pole at a corresponding location; e.g., using the state or output feedback; see Figure 1. Example Suppose the plant is quite slow, its time constant is orig = 100 sec, x = 0.01x + u, or, equivalently, X(s) = 1 U (s). s + 0.01

To speed up it to desired = 1 sec, use the feedback controller Then, the closed loop system is x = (0.01 + k)x + r, u = kx + r. or, equivalently, X(s) =

1 R(s). s + 0.01 + k To achieve the desired time constant of 1 sec, the pole of the closed loop system must be placed at s = 1/desired = 1, i.e., we need a = (0.01 + k) = 1, which is achieved using the gain of k = 0.99. 1

U Plant

K PSfrag replacements
Feedback Controller

Figure 1: Static feedback control system.

1.2 The Effect of an Additional Pole

A rst order system often serves as an approximation of a system of higher order. Therefore, it is important to study the error of approximation. To this end, we examine the effect of additional poles and zeros on a rst-order system. This will explain the difference between an original system and its rst-order approximation. We now examine the step response of a system whose transfer function is given by Y (s) p 1 . = = 1 R(s) (s + 1)(s + p) (s + 1)( p s + 1) (1)

That is, we are concerned with a 2nd order system which is approximated by the rst order 1 approximation s+a , where a = 1. Note on the form of the system. Eq. (1) is selected because its value at s = 0 equals 1 for any p. We will see that the step response of the system will approach the value of 1 for large values of t, independent of the value of p. This is convenient, since we wish to examine the step response for different values of p. However, the conclusions drawn from the example will apply to any second order system with two real poles. Let R(s) = 1/s and perform a partial-fraction expansion on the resulting step response transform Y (s): p 1 p 1 Y (s) = = p1 + p1 . s(s + 1)(s + p) s s+1 s+p The step response y(t) is given by y(t) = 1 p t 1 pt e + e . p1 p1 (2)
p et , p1

We will consider this response as the sum of two terms. The rst term is given by 1 1 and the second term is p1 ept . Let us examine the step response of Eq. (2) for different values of p: 2

1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

p=infinity p=10 p=1 p=0.5

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

Figure 2: Step response of the system with the additional pole at p. pv=[.5 1 10 inf]; t=[0:.1:5]; yv=[]; for i=4:-1:1 p=pv(i); G=tf(1,conv([1 1],[1/p 1])); [y,x]=step(G,t); yv=[yv y]; end plot(t,yv(:,1),-,t,yv(:,2),--,t,yv(:,3),-.,t,yv(:,4),.) legend(p=infinity,p=10,p=1,p=0.5); grid This code produces the step response of Eq. (2) for p = 0.5, 1, 10 and ; see Figure 2. For p = , the step response is the same as the step response of the system with the rst-order 1 transfer function s+1 . As p reduces, the plot moves away from the step response of this rstorder system. Indeed p/(p 1)et et as p , and 1/(p 1)ept 0 as p . In the latter limit, two factors matter: 1/(p 1) p/(p 1), and also ept has a time constant 1/p decreases as p , hence this is a fast term. The conclusion can be drawn from Figure 2 that if p 1, the 1 pt term p1 e corresponds to the fast part of the step response. The effect of this term (and hance the effect of the additional pole at s = p is negligibly small as t . Furthermore, the term p 1 p1 et describes the dominant part of the steop response. Since the response is similar to the response of the rst-order system, the system with p 1 is said to be dominantly rst-order. Also, we say that the pole at s = 1 dominates on the pole at s = p; see Figure 3 3

Im

-p

-1

Re

Dominant pole

Figure 3: Pole locus of a dominantly rst-order system.

Additional zero Im

-p

-z

-1

Re

Dominant pole

Figure 4: Zero-pole locus of the system with the additional zero at s = z.

1.3 The Effect of a Zero on a Dominantly First-order System

We have seen that an additional pole retards a dominantly rst-order system as the pole moves along the negative real axis. We now examine the effect of moving a zero in along the negative real axis. The system to be studied is given by
1 s+1 Y (s) z = . 1 R(s) (s + 1)( 10 s + 1)

(3)

If we set z = , then we obtain the system of the previous section in which p = 10. We have seen that for the example in the previous section, this value of the parameter p was sufcently large in order to say that the system was a dominantly rst-order system. The zero-pole locus of the system (3) is shown in Figure 4. We are again interested in the step response, that is R(s) = 1/s, 1 s+1 z . Y (s) = 1 s(s + 1)( 10 s + 1) Take the partial fraction expansion of Y (s): Y (s) =
10 z1 1 z10 1 9 z + 9 z . s s+1 s + 10

The corresponding step response is then found to be: y(t) = 1 10 z 1 t 1 z 10 10t e + e . 9 z 9 z 4

4.5

3.5

z= z=10 z=2. z=1. z=.5 z=.2

2.5

1.5

0.5

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

Figure 5: Step response of the dominantly rst-order system with the additional zero at s = z. Effects of the additional zero: z 10. We can see that if z 10, then
10 z1 9 z

10/9,

1 z10 9 z

1/9, and

y(t) yd (t) = 1

10 t e 9

for sufciently large t.

Thus, the pole at s = 1 remains dominant. z = 10. This zero cancels the pole at s = 10. The system becomes a rst-order system. 1 < z < 10. In this case, the additional zero speeds up the system; see Figure 5. z = 1. This cancels the pole at s = 1. z < 1. The additional zero becomes dominant. It speeds up the system and at the same time leads to occuring an overshoot; see Figure 5. From this analysis, one can see the general effect that the speed of the response increases as zero moves from + to 0 along the negative real axis. When zero becomes dominant, an overshoot occurs. To obtain Figure 5, the following Matlab code was used: zv=[.2 .5 1. 2. 10 inf]; t=[0:.1:5]; yv=[]; for i=6:-1:1 z=zv(i); G=tf([1/z 1],conv([1 1],[1/10 1])); 5

[y,x]=step(G,t); yv=[yv y]; end plot(t,yv(:,1),--,t,yv(:,2),-,t,yv(:,3),-.,t,yv(:,4),-o,t,yv(:,5), -x,t,yv(:,6),-*) legend(z=\infty,z=10,z=2.,z=1.,z=.5,z=.2); grid; 1.3.1 The Effect of a Right Half-plane Zero

We now examine the step response for the system given by Eq. (3) for the case when z is negative. A negative value for z corresponds to a zero in the right half-plane. The found expression fot the step response does not depend on whether z is negative or positive. Let us nd the derivative y(t) at t = 0: dy dt =
t=0

10 z 1 t 10 z 10 10t e e 9 z 9 z

=
t=0

10 . z

When z is positive, corresponding to a left half-plane zero, the derivative is also positive; when z is negative, corresponding to a right half-plane zero, the derivative is negative, indicating that the response starts off in the negative direction. As the magnitude of a positive z decreases, corresponding to a zero moving along the negative real axis toward the origin, the increasing magnitude of the derivative indicates, rst a more rapid response caused by the zero and, then, an increase in overshoot. For right half-plane zeros moving along the positive real axis toward the origin, the increase in the magnitude of the derivative indicates an increase in the magnitude of the overshoot going in the opposite direction (undershoot) and an increase in the delay before the response approaches its nal value. This conclusion is illustrated in Figure 6. The corresponding Matlab code is the following: zv=[-.2 -.5 -2. -inf]; t=[0:.1:5]; yv=[]; for i=4:-1:1 z=zv(i); G=tf([1/z 1],conv([1 1],[1/10 1])); [y,x]=step(G,t); yv=[yv y]; end plot(t,yv(:,1),-,t,yv(:,2),--,t,yv(:,3),-.,t,yv(:,4),-x) legend(z=-\infty,z=-2.,z=-0.5,z=-0.2); grid;

1.4 Summary
1. We have seen that if there is a single pole that is signicantly closer to the origin than other poles and zeros of a transfer function with all its poles in the left halfplane, the time constant of that pole closest to the origin dominates the response of the system. 6

1 0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

z= z=2. z=0.5 z=0.2

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

Figure 6: Effect of an additional zero in the right half-plane. 2. The response from the dominant pole is modied from a pure rst-order system response by the presence of other poles and zeros. Additional poles delay the response of the system while left half-plane zeros speed up the response. Right halfplane zeros cause the response to start off in the wrong direction before recovering. The effect increases as either a pole or zero moves toward the origin. 3. If there is a zero and a pole modifying the effect of another dominant pole and the modifying zero is closer to the origin than the modifying pole, the response from the dominant pole is modied more by the zero than the pole and the response is slightly advanced or sped up in time. If the modifying pole is closer to the origin than the modifying zero, the response is modied more by the pole than the zero and the response is slightly delayed.

Effects of additional poles and zeros on performance of a second order underdamped system

It often happens that the poles closest to the origin are a complex pole pair. Hence, the dominant response will be from those poles which correspond to a second-order system. We will see in this section that additional poles and zeros modify the response of a second-order system in a similar way to how the response of a rst-order system is modied. The discussion is based upon the second-order differential equation d2 y dy 2 2 + 2n + n y(t) = n r(t), 2 dt dt (4)

where r(t) is a step-function input and the initial conditions are assumed to be zero. The constant is called the damping ratio, and n is referred to as the undamped natural frequency. There are numerous examples in which the above differential equation occurs such as a series electrical circuit containing resistors, inductors and capacitors, a system consisting of a spring, mass, and viscous friction etc.

2.1 The derivation of the unit step response of the prototype second order system with two complex conjugate poles
The transfer function of the system of Eq. (4) is
2 Y (s) n = 2 2 R(s) s + 2n s + n

(5)

The transfer function (5) has poles located at s = n n ( 2 1) (6)

These poles are real or complex conjugate depending on . If < 0, the poles are in the right halfplane, hence the system is unstable. If > 1 then the system has two real poles. This case has already been studied. We know that the step response is determined to a large extent by a dominant pole in this case. The system is overdamped, its step response approaches the nal value. If = 1 then the system has a double pole at n . This is a critical case (critically damped system). The step response has the form R1 + R2 en + R3 ten ; R1 , R2 , R3 are constants. If 0 < < 1, poles are complex conjugate and located in the left half-plane: s = n jn (1 2 ) (7)

We focus on the last case. The location of the poles with respect to the damping ratio and the undamped natural frequency is indicated in Fig. 7. To investigate the response of the system, we 8

Pole

j
splane

d = n 1 2

n PSfrag replacements

Re

Pole

Figure 7: Location of the poles with respect to and the n chose the input as a step input. For R(s) = 1/s, Y(s) is given by Y (s) =
2 n . 2 s [(s + n )2 + n (1 2 )]

The partial fraction expansion is found for the case of the pair of complex conjugate poles and a single real pole: Y (s) = R1 R R + + s s + n + jn 1 2 s + n jn 1 2

We use the residues method:

R1 = 1 R = = = = =
2 n s(s + n jn 1 2 ) s=n jn 1 2 j 2( + j 1 2 ) 1 2 1 1 + j 2 1 2 1 1 2 ejtan (/ 1 ) 2 1 2 1 ej(/2) 2 1 2

where = cos1 . We now use the table of Laplace transforms and write y(t) as y(t) = 1 1 en t cos(n t 1 2 + ) 2 2 1 1 en t sin(n t 1 2 + ) = 1 2 1

The value d = n 1 2 is the actual frequency of oscillation in radians per second, it is referred to as the damped frequency. The period of oscillation, T d , associated with the damped frequency d is 2 2 = . Td = d n 1 2 Typical responce of the system is shown in Fig. 8. In addition to the period and frequency of
Step Response 1.5

Maximum overshoot Td 105% 95% 90%

Amplitude
0.5 1

Settling time

10%
0 0 5 10 Time (sec) 15 20 25

Rise time

Figure 8: Typical unit step response of an underdamped (0 < < 1) second-order system. damped oscillations, other important transient performance characteristics of a stable 2nd order underdamped system are 10

 Percent maximum overshoot, P O = e

1 2

100%;

Rise time shows how long it takes for the response to rise from from 10% of the nal value to 90% of the nal value. There is no exact equation to express the rise time. Settling time shows how long it takes for transients to settle. The settling time is measured as a time required for the response to settle to within 5%, or in some cases 2% of the 3 nal value. In the rst case, the settling time is approximately equal to t setlle = n . Effect of varying the damping ratio Let n = 1 be xed. Step responces for various damping ratios are given in the Figure 9. The overshoot decreases as increases. However the decrease in the overshoot is at the expense of rise time. While the response becomes more sluggish, its settles quicker as increases. Effect of varying the undamped natural frequency n Varying the undamped natural frequency n simply scales the time axis, see the Figure 10. It affects the period of damped oscillations, rise and settling time, but has no effect on the percent maximum overshoot.

2.2 The effect of additional poles and zeros on a dominantly second order system
The effects that added poles and zeros have on dominantly second-order systems are similar to the effects that added poles and zeros have on dominantly rst-order systems. 2.2.1 An additional zero in the closed loop transfer function

Figure 11 displays the step responses of the system given by

n (s + z) Y (s) = 2 z 2 R(s) s + 2n s + n
2

This system has the same poles as the system in equation (5). Also, it has a single zero at s = z. The effect of additional left-halfplane zero can be seen from the following analysis. The unit step response of the above transfer function can be written as follows Y (s) = + z) 2 + 2n s + n )
2 2 n (s z

s(s2

n 2 s n z = + 2 + 2 s + 2 ) 2 + 2 s + 2 ) s(s s(s n n n n 2 n dy2nd order (t) y(t) = y2nd order (t) + . z dt

Hence, the additional zero in the left half-plane speeds up transients, making rises and falls sharper. Smaller values of z make this effect more prominent. As a result, an additional zero

11

PoleZero Map 1.2 0.83 1 =0.5 0.8 0.91 =0.707 0.74 0.6 0.42 =0.3 0.2 =0.1

Imag Axis

0.6 0.96 0.4

0.2

0.99

1.6

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.2

1.6

1.4

1.2

0.8 Real Axis

0.6

0.4

0.2

1.8

1.6

=0.1 =.3 =.5 =.707

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

10

Step responses

15

20

25

Figure 9: Second order system with various damping ratios. Locations of poles on the complex plane are obtained using Matlab function pzmap. The (, n )-grid can be added using grid or sgrid.

12

PoleZero Map 1.5 0.74 0.84 =2

n

0.6

0.42

0.22

1 0.91 Imag Axis

System: sys Pole: 0.707 + 0.707i Damping: 0.707 Overshoot (%): 4.32 Frequency (rad/sec): 1 =1
n

0.96 0.5

0.99

n=0.5

2 0 2

1.75 1.8

1.5 1.6 1.4

1.25 1.2

0.75

0.5 0.6 0.4

0.25 0.2 0

1 0.8 Real Axis

0.8

0.6

n=0.5 n=1. n=2.

0.4

0.2

10

15

20

25

Figure 10: Second order system with various undamped natural frequencies.

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zv=[0.5 1 2 10 inf]; t=[0:.1:5]; omega_n=1; zeta=sqrt(2)/2; yv=[]; for i=5:-1:1 z=zv(i); G=tf([omega_n2/z omega_n2],[1 2*zeta*omega_n omega_n2]); [y,x]=step(G,t); yv=[yv,y]; end plot(t,yv(:,1),-,t,yv(:,2),--,t,yv(:,3),-.,t,yv(:,4),-o,t,yv(:,5),grid; legend(z=\infty,z=10,z=2,z=1,z=0.5);
Effect of an addtitional zero, =0.707, n=1

1.5

0.5

z= z=10 z=2 z=1 z=0.5

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

Figure 11: Effect of an additional left halfplane zero on a dominantly second-order system

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in the left half-plane makes the system faster and more oscillatory. This can be seen from the simulations. As the zero moves along the negative real axis toward the origin, the time to the rst peak of the step response decreases monotonically while the percent overshoot increases monotonically. Also, it takes longer for the system to settle to the nal value of the response. The zero in the right half-plane retards the system and produces an undershoot. The persent undershoot decreases as the zero moves along the positive real axis toward the innity, see Figure 12. Again the system oscillates for a longer time.

zv=[-0.5 -1 -2 -10 -inf]; t=[0:.1:5]; omega_n=1; zeta=sqrt(2)/2; yv=[]; for i=5:-1:1 z=zv(i); G=tf([omega_n2/z omega_n2],[1 2*zeta*omega_n omega_n2]); [y,x]=step(G,t); yv=[yv,y]; end plot(t,yv(:,1),-,t,yv(:,2),--,t,yv(:,3),-.,t,yv(:,4),-o,t,yv(:,5),grid; legend(z=-\infty,z=-10,z=-2,z=-1,z=-0.5);
Effect of an addtitional zero in the right halfplane, =0.707, n=1

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

z= z=10 z=2 z=1 z=0.5

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

Figure 12: Effect of an additional zero in the right half-plane on a dominantly second-order system

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2.2.2

An additional zero in the forward path transfer function

Consider an example. Let the forward path transfer function be Y (s) 6(zs + 1) = R(s) s(s + 1)(s + 10) The effect of the pole at s = 10 is insignicant as transients due to this pole should die out fairly quickly. The closed loop transfer function is Y (s) 6(zs + 1) = 3 R(s) s + 11s2 + (10 + 6z)s + 6 AS we can see, this time z affects not only the numerator, but the denominator also contains z. In this case, a larger z (and a zero closer to the imaginary axis) has an effect of improving damping and reducing maximum overshoot. 2.2.3 The effect of an additional closed loop pole

Conversely to the effect of an additional closed loop zero, as an added pole moves along the negative real axis toward the origin, the time to the rst peak of the step response increases and the percent overshoot decreases. Also, in the presence of an additional poles the amount of oscillations reduces, i.e., the system becomes better damped. This can be seen on Figure 13 where the step responses of the system
2 n Y (s) = 2 R(s) (s/p + 1)(s2 + 2n s + n )

are shown for different values of p. This system has the additional real pole located at s = p. The most dramatic effect occurs as the additional pole becomes dominant, i.e. when p becomes greater than n . In this case, the overshoot disappears and the system slows down considerably, becoming effectively a dominantly rst-order system. 2.2.4 The effect of an additional forward-path pole

When the open loop transfer function is of the form

2 n Y (s) = R(s) s(s + 2n )(1 + s/p)

(i.e., the pole at s = p is added to the prototype forward-path transfer function), the closed loop system becomes
2 Y (s) n = 2 R(s) (1/p)s3 + (1 + 2n /p)s2 + 2n s + n

When p is large, the added pole has little effect on the system step response as the system remains dominantly second-order. As p reduces, and the pole moves closer to the origin, the overshoot increases, i.e, the effect is opposite to that seen in the case of an added closed-loop pole. If the pole gets to close to the origin, the closed loop system can even go unstable; see Figure 14 16

pv=[0.1 .5 2 10 inf]; t=[0:.3:15]; omega_n=1; zeta=sqrt(2)/2; yv=[]; for i=5:-1:1 p=pv(i); G=tf(omega_n2,conv([1/p 1],[1 2*zeta*omega_n omega_n2])); [y,x]=step(G,t); yv=[yv,y]; end plot(t,yv(:,1),-,t,yv(:,2),--,t,yv(:,3),-.,t,yv(:,4),-o,t,yv(:,5),grid; legend(p=\infty,p=10,p=2,p=0.5,p=0.1);
1.4

1.2

p= p=10 p=2 p=0.5 p=0.1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

10

15

Figure 13: Effect of an additional pole on a dominantly second-order system

17

Step Response 2.5 p=10 p=1 2

1.5

Amplitude

0.5

0.5

p=0 (no added pole)

5 Time (sec)

10

15

Figure 14: The effect of an additional forward-path pole.

2.3 Summary
As was in the case of a dominantly rst-order system, the response of a dominantly secondorder system is sped up by an additional zero and is slowed down by an additional pole. In the dominantly second-order system the added closed loop zero also has the important effect of increasing the amount of oscillation in the system while an added closed loop pole has the effect of decreasing the amount of oscillation. Added forward path zeros and added forward path poles have an opposite effect on the overshoot. A forward path pole which is too close to the origin may turn the closed loop system unstable. A right half-plane zero also causes a wrong way response. All effects become more pronounced as the additional zero or pole approach the origin and become dominant.

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