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 nyquist
 ON THIS PAGE
 Syntax
 Description
 Examples
o Nyquist Plot of Dynamic System
o Nyquist Plot at Specified Frequencies
o Nyquist Plot of Several Dynamic Systems
o Nyquist Plot with Specified Line Attributes
o Obtain Real and Imaginary Parts of Frequency Response
o Nyquist Plot of MIMO System
o Create Nyquist Plot of Identified Model With Response Uncertainty
o Nyquist Plot of Model with Complex Coefficients
 Input Arguments
 Output Arguments
 Tips
 See Also
 Documentation
 Examples
 Functions
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nyquist
Nyquist plot of frequency response
collapse all in page

Syntax
nyquist(sys)
nyquist(sys1,sys2,...,sysN)
nyquist(sys1,LineSpec1,...,sysN,LineSpecN)
nyquist(___,w)
[re,im,wout] = nyquist(sys)
[re,im,wout] = nyquist(sys,w)
[re,im,wout,sdre,sdim] = nyquist(sys,w)

Description
example

nyquist(sys) creates a Nyquist plot of the frequency response of a dynamic system

model sys. The plot displays real and imaginary parts of the system response as a function
of frequency.
nyquist plots a contour comprised of both positive and negative frequencies. The plot also
shows arrows to indicate the direction of increasing frequency for each
branch. nyquist automatically determines frequencies to plot based on system dynamics.
If sys is a multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) model, then nyquist produces an array of Nyquist
plots, each plot showing the frequency response of one I/O pair.
If sys is a model with complex coefficients, then the positive and negative branches are not
symmetric.
example

nyquist(sys1,sys2,...,sysN) plots the frequency response of multiple dynamic systems on

the same plot. All systems must have the same number of inputs and outputs.
example

nyquist(sys1,LineSpec1,...,sysN,LineSpecN) specifies a color, line style, and marker for

each system in the plot.
example

nyquist(___,w) plots system responses for frequencies specified by w.

 If w is a cell array of the form {wmin,wmax},
then nyquist plots the response at frequencies
ranging between wmin and wmax.
 If w is a vector of frequencies, then nyquist plots the
response at each specified frequency. The
vector w can contain both negative and positive
frequencies.
You can use w with any of the input-argument combinations in previous syntaxes.
example

[re,im,wout] = nyquist(sys) returns the real and imaginary parts of the frequency

response at each frequency in the vector wout. The function automatically determines
frequencies in wout based on system dynamics. This syntax does not draw a plot.
example

[re,im,wout] = nyquist(sys,w) returns the response data at the frequencies specified by w.

 If w is a cell array of the form {wmin,wmax},
then wout contains frequencies ranging
between wmin and wmax.
 If w is a vector of frequencies, then wout = w.
example

[re,im,wout,sdre,sdim] = nyquist(sys,w) also returns the estimated standard deviation of

the real and imaginary parts of the frequency response for the identified model sys. If you
omit w, then the function automatically determines frequencies in wout based on system
dynamics.
Examples
collapse all
Nyquist Plot of Dynamic System
Try This ExampleCopy Command  Copy Code
Create the following transfer function and plot its Nyquist response.
2 2
H(s)= .
2s +5s+1s +2s+3
H = tf([2 5 1],[1 2 3]);
nyquist(H)
The nyquist function can display a grid of M-circles, which are the contours of constant
closed-loop magnitude. M-circles are defined as the locus of complex numbers where the
following quantity is a constant value across frequency.
T(jω)= .
G(jω)1+G(jω)
Here, ω is the frequency in radians/TimeUnit, where TimeUnit is the system time units,
and G is the collection of complex numbers that satisfy the constant magnitude
requirement.
To display the grid of M-circles, right-click in the plot and select Grid. Alternatively, use
the grid command.
grid on
Nyquist Plot at Specified Frequencies
Try This ExampleCopy Command  Copy Code
Create a Nyquist plot over a specified frequency range. Use this approach when you want
to focus on the dynamics in a particular range of frequencies.
H = tf([-0.1,-2.4,-181,-1950],[1,3.3,990,2600]);
nyquist(H,{1,100})
The cell array {1,100} specifies a frequency range [1,100] for the positive frequency branch
and [–100,–1] for the negative frequency branch in the Nyquist plot. The negative frequency
branch is obtained by symmetry for models with real coefficients. When you provide
frequency bounds in this way, the function selects intermediate points for frequency
response data.
Alternatively, specify a vector of frequency points to use for evaluating and plotting the
frequency response.
w = 1:0.1:30;
nyquist(H,w,'.-')
nyquist plots the frequency response at the specified frequencies.
Nyquist Plot of Several Dynamic Systems
Try This ExampleCopy Command  Copy Code
Compare the frequency response of several systems on the same Nyquist plot.
Create the dynamic systems.
rng(0)
sys1 = tf(3,[1,2,1]);
sys2 = tf([2 5 1],[1 2 3]);
sys3 = rss(4);

Create a Nyquist plot that displays all systems.

nyquist(sys1,sys2,sys3)
legend('Location','southwest')
Nyquist Plot with Specified Line Attributes
Try This ExampleCopy Command  Copy Code
Specify the line style, color, or marker for each system in a Nyquist plot using
the LineSpec input argument.
sys1 = tf(3,[1,2,1]);
sys2 = tf([2 5 1],[1 2 3]);
nyquist(sys1,'o:',sys2,'g')
The first LineSpec, 'o:', specifies a dotted line with circle markers for the response of sys1.
The second LineSpec, 'g', specifies a solid green line for the response of sys2.
Obtain Real and Imaginary Parts of Frequency Response
Try This ExampleCopy Command  Copy Code
Compute the real and imaginary parts of the frequency response of a SISO system.
If you do not specify frequencies, nyquist chooses frequencies based on the system
dynamics and returns them in the third output argument.
H = tf([2 5 1],[1 2 3]);
[re,im,wout] = nyquist(H);

Because H is a SISO model, the first two dimensions of re and im are both 1. The third
dimension is the number of frequencies in wout.
size(re)
ans = 1×3

1 1 141

length(wout)
ans = 141
Thus, each entry along the third dimension of re gives the real part of the response at the
corresponding frequency in wout.
Nyquist Plot of MIMO System
Try This ExampleCopy Command  Copy Code
For this example, create a 2-output, 3-input system.
rng(0,'twister');
H = rss(4,2,3);

For this system, nyquist plots the frequency responses of each I/O channel in a separate
plot in a single figure.
nyquist(H)

Compute the real and imaginary parts of these responses at 20 frequencies between 1 and
10 radians.
w = logspace(0,1,20);
[re,im] = nyquist(H,w);

re and im are three-dimensional arrays, in which the first two dimensions correspond to the
output and input dimensions of H, and the third dimension is the number of frequencies. For
instance, examine the dimensions of re.
size(re)
ans = 1×3

2 3 20

Thus, for example, re(1,3,10) is the real part of the response from the third input to the first
output, computed at the 10th frequency in w. Similarly, im(1,3,10) contains the imaginary
part of the same response.
Create Nyquist Plot of Identified Model With Response Uncertainty
This example uses:

 System Identification Toolbox

Try This ExampleCopy Command  Copy Code
Compute the standard deviations of the real and imaginary parts of the frequency response
of an identified model. Use this data to create a 3σ plot of the response uncertainty.
Load the estimation data z2.
load iddata2 z2;

Identify a transfer function model using the data. Using the tfest command requires System
Identification Toolbox™ software.
sys_p = tfest(z2,2);

Obtain the standard deviations for the real and imaginary parts of the frequency response
for a set of 512 frequencies, w.
w = linspace(-10*pi,10*pi,512);
[re,im,wout,sdre,sdim] = nyquist(sys_p,w);

re and im are the real and imaginary parts of the frequency response, and sdre and sdim are
their standard deviations, respectively. The frequencies in wout are the same as the
frequencies you specified in w.
Use the standard deviation data to create a 3σ plot corresponding to the confidence region.
re = squeeze(re);
im = squeeze(im);
sdre = squeeze(sdre);
sdim = squeeze(sdim);
plot(re,im,'b',re+3*sdre,im+3*sdim,'k:',re-3*sdre,im-3*sdim,'k:')
xlabel('Real Axis');
ylabel('Imaginary Axis');
Nyquist Plot of Model with Complex Coefficients
Try This ExampleCopy Command  Copy Code
Create a Nyquist plot of a model with complex coefficients and a model with real coefficients
on the same plot.
rng(0)
A = [-3.50,-1.25-0.25i;2,0];
B = [1;0];
C = [-0.75-0.5i,0.625-0.125i];
D = 0.5;
Gc = ss(A,B,C,D);
Gr = rss(4);
nyquist(Gc,Gr)
legend('Complex-coefficient model','Real-coefficient model')
The Nyquist plot always shows two branches, one for positive frequencies and one for
negative frequencies. The arrows indicate the direction of increasing frequency for each
branch. For models with complex coefficients, the two branches are not symmetric. For
models with real coefficients, the negative branch is obtained by symmetry.
Input Arguments
collapse all
sys — Dynamic system
dynamic system model | model array
Dynamic system, specified as a SISO or MIMO dynamic system model or array of dynamic
system models. Dynamic systems that you can use include:
 Continuous-time or discrete-time numeric LTI models,
such as tf, zpk, or ss models.
 Generalized or uncertain LTI models such
as genss or uss (Robust Control Toolbox) models.
(Using uncertain models requires Robust Control
Toolbox™ software.)
o For tunable control design blocks, the function
evaluates the model at its current value for both
plotting and returning frequency response data.
 o For uncertain control design blocks, the function plots
the nominal value and random samples of the model.
When you use output arguments, the function returns
frequency response data for the nominal model only.
 Frequency-response data models such as frd models.
For such models, the function plots the response at
frequencies defined in the model.
 Identified LTI models, such as idtf (System
Identification Toolbox), idss (System Identification
Toolbox), or idproc (System Identification
Toolbox) models. For such models, the function can
also plot confidence intervals and return standard
deviations of the frequency response. See Create
Nyquist Plot of Identified Model With Response
Uncertainty. (Using identified models requires System
Identification Toolbox™ software.)
If sys is an array of models, the function plots the frequency responses of all models in the
array on the same axes.
LineSpec — Line style, marker, and color
character vector | string
Line style, marker, and color, specified as a string or vector of one, two, or three characters.
The characters can appear in any order. You do not need to specify all three characteristics
(line style, marker, and color). For example, if you omit the line style and specify the marker,
then the plot shows only the marker and no line. For more information about configuring this
argument, see the LineSpec input argument of the plot function.
Example: 'r--' specifies a red dashed line
Example: '*b' specifies blue asterisk markers
Example: 'y' specifies a yellow line
w — Frequencies
{wmin,wmax} | vector
Frequencies at which to compute and plot frequency response, specified as the cell
array {wmin,wmax} or as a vector of frequency values.
 If w is a cell array of the form {wmin,wmax}, then the
function computes the response at frequencies
ranging between wmin and wmax.
 If w is a vector of frequencies, then the function
computes the response at each specified frequency.
For example, use logspace to generate a row vector
with logarithmically spaced frequency values. The
vector w can contain both positive and negative
frequencies.
If you specify a frequency range of [w ,w ] for your plot, then the plot shows a contour
min max

comprised of both positive frequencies [w ,w ] and negative frequencies [–w ,–w ].

min max max min
Specify frequencies in units of rad/TimeUnit, where TimeUnit is the TimeUnit property of the
model.
Output Arguments
collapse all
re — Real part of system response
3-D array
Real part of the system response, returned as a 3-D array. The dimensions of this array are
(number of system outputs)-by-(number of system inputs)-by-(number of frequency points).
 For SISO systems, re(1,1,k) gives the real part of the
response at the kth frequency in w or wout. For an
example, see Obtain Real and Imaginary Parts of
Frequency Response.
 For MIMO systems, re(i,j,k) gives the real part of
the response at the kth frequency from the jth input to
the ith output. For an example, see Nyquist Plot of
MIMO System.
im — Imaginary part of system response
3-D array
Imaginary part of the system response, returned as a 3-D array. The dimensions of this
array are (number of system outputs)-by(number of system inputs)-by-(number of frequency
points).
 For SISO systems, im(1,1,k) gives the imaginary part
of the response at the kth frequency in w or wout. For
an example, see Obtain Real and Imaginary Parts of
Frequency Response.
 For MIMO systems, im(i,j,k) gives the imaginary
part of the response at the kth frequency from the jth
input to the ith output. For an example, see Nyquist
Plot of MIMO System.
wout — Frequencies
vector
Frequencies at which the function returns the system response, returned as a column
vector. The function chooses the frequency values based on the model dynamics, unless
you specify frequencies using the input argument w.
wout also contains negative frequency values for models with complex coefficients.

Frequency values are in radians per TimeUnit, where TimeUnit is the value of

the TimeUnit property of sys.
sdre — Standard deviation of real part
3-D array | []
Estimated standard deviation of the real part of the response at each frequency point,
returned as a 3-D array. sdre has the same dimensions as re.
If sys is not an identified LTI model, sdre is [].
sdim — Standard deviation of imaginary part
3-D array | []
Estimated standard deviation of the imaginary part of the response at each frequency point,
returned as a 3-D array. sdim has the same dimensions as im.
If sys is not an identified LTI model, sdim is [].
Tips
 When you need additional plot customization options,
use nyquistplot instead.
 Two zoom options that apply specifically to Nyquist
plots are available from the right-click menu :
o Full View — Clips unbounded branches of the
Nyquist plot, but still includes the critical point (–1, 0).
o Zoom on (-1,0) — Zooms around the critical point (–1,
0). To access critical-point zoom programmatically,
use the zoomcp command. For more information,
see nyquistplot.
 To activate data markers that display the real and
imaginary values at a given frequency, click anywhere
on the curve. The following figure shows
a nyquist plot with a data marker.
See Also
nichols | sigma | bode | nyquistplot

Topics
 Frequency-Domain Responses
 Dynamic System Models
Introduced before R2006a

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