Stability of Linear Control System

Unstable system is useless. Amongst the important specifications

of the controller design is that the overall system must be stable.
This subject will discuss the stability of LTIV SISO systems.

Bounded-Input Bounded-Output (BIBO) Stability

With zero initial conditions, the system is said to be BIBO stable,
or simply stable, if its output is bounded for a bounded input.

If , then

where M and N is

Zero-Input Stability
The system is said to be zero-input stable or stable, if the
zero-input response subject to the finite initial conditions
reached zero as t approaches infinity.
In mathematic:
if for
dan

As approaching 0 as t approaching then it is also known

as asymptotic stability.
All the stability conditions are the same, hence it will be referred
as stability.
Method of Determine Stability
Stability of a system is solely based on the characteristic
equation of the system. The system is stable if all poles are
located in left hand side of the imaginary axis of s-plane.
If one of the poles is located or placed on the imaginary
axis, then the system is said to marginally stable or marginally
unstable.

Example:

Poles at s = -1, -2, -3; therefore stable

unstable due to a pole at .

Poles at
Marginally unstable due to multiple poles at

Marginally unstable due to multiple poles at

Poles at

Marginally stable if the pole is purposely place at

Computer program such as MATLAB, PROGRAM CC,

CONTROL W etc. could be used to find the roots of
characteristic eqn. and determine system stability.
However, some time in design the roots are unknown or
there are some variable parameters embedded in the
characteristic equation of the system. These 3 methods are
normally been used to determine the system stability without
solving the roots of characteristic equation:
1. Routh-Hurwitz criterion
2. Nyquist criterion
3. Bode Diagram

Routh-Hurwitz Criterion
For a transfer function,

where

Routh table is:

sn : an an-2 an-4 … 0
sn-1 : an-1 an-3 an-5 … 0
sn-2 : c1 c2 c3 … 0
sn-3 : d1 d2 d3 … 0
 s1 : g1 0
s0 : h1 0

where

Routh- Hurwitz Criterion

1. If all elements in the first column have the same sign, the
system is stable and all poles are on LHS of s-plane.
2. The number of changes of signs is equal to the number of
unstable poles or poles on RHS of s-plane. System is unstable.
3. If the first element of a row is zero, change it with a small
.
4. If all elements of a row are zero, poles are on the imaginary
real axis or on LHS of the imaginary axis of s-plane.

Example 1:
If the characteristic equation of a system is,
 Determine the stability of the system.

Routh’s Table

There are 2 sign changes in the first column, thus the system has
2 poles on RHS of s-plane. Therefore, the system is unstable.

Example 2

Routh’s Table

There are 2 sign changes in the first column, thus the system has
2 poles on RHS of s-plane. Therefore, the system is unstable.

Example 3

Routh’s Table:
There is no sign change in the first column, hence the system
stable.

Example 4
Determine the range of k so that the system will remain stable.

Characteristic equation,

Routh’s Table

The system will remain stable if there is no sign change in the

first column, or
Hence, overall is the range of K for the system to remain
stable.

Example 5
Determine the range of k for the following system to remain
stable:

Routh’s Table,

system stable when

Example 6
Determine the ranges of so that the system will be
stable.
Routh’s Table,

So the system will be stable if,

Example 6
Determine the range of k so that the system is boundary stable
and determine the oscillation frequency of the system if the char.
Eqn. of the system is:

Routh’s Table,

Hence, the system stable for

Therefore, the system is boundary stable when

Auxiliary Eqn.
so the oscillation freq. is

Example 7:
Determine the range of k for the system to be stable, Char. Eqn.
is

Routh’s Table:

k must satisfies,

So the system stable when . The final condition

cannot be satisfied as is always . Therefore, the system is
unstable.