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INTR O DUC TIO N C R UISE C O NTR O L

 SYSTEM

MO DELING
Extras: Generating a Step Response
ANALYSIS in MATLAB

The step function is one of most useful functions in MATLAB for

CONTROL
control design. Given a system representation, the response to a step
PID input can be immediately plotted, without need to actually solve for the

R O OT LO C US time response analytically. A step input can be described as a

change in the input from zero to a finite value at time t = 0. By default,
FR EQ UENC Y
the stepcommand performs a unit step (i.e. the input goes from zero
STATE-SPAC E to one at time t = 0). The basic syntax for calling the step function is

the following, where sysis a defined LTI object.

DIGITAL

step(sys)
SIMULINK

MO DELING
Contents
C O NTR O L
Changing the magnitude of the step

Specifying the time scale

Saving the response

Step response of discrete-time systems

This command will produce a series of step response plots, all on

the same figure. A plot will be made for each input and output

combination. Most systems you will come across in the beginning will
be SISO or Single-Input, Single-Output. In this case, there will be only

one plot generated. However, the stepcommand can also accept

MIMO, Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output, systems.

For example, suppose you want to model a mechanical system

consisting of a mass, spring, and damper, with an applied force. You

can derive the transfer function shown below. You wish to see what
the system response to unit step input is (an applied force of 1N). To

model this, enter the following code into a new m-file. Running this
script in the MATLAB command window will generate a plot like the

one shown below.

M = 1; % units of kg
 M = 1; % units of kg
K = 10; % units of N/m

B = 2; % units of N-s/m
num = 1;

den = [M B K];

sys = tf(num,den)
step(sys);

sys =

--------------

s^2 + 2 s + 10

Continuous-time transfer function.

This figure shows the output response, which is the position of the

mass. You can see that in steady-state the mass has moved 0.1
meters (the spring force balances the applied force). The system is

underdamped and has overshoot.

Further details regarding the use of the step command for more

advanced situations are given below.

Changing the magnitude of the step

So far, we have only dealt with unit step inputs. Suppose the input to
our system was not 1 Newton, but in fact 100 Newtons. The step

command can accommodate this by multiplying the system by 100

(since we are only dealing with linear systems). For the example

above, this is achieved with the following code, which generates the

plot shown below.

step(100*sys);

The plot looks similar to the one above it except that it has been

scaled vertically by a factor of 100.

Specifying the time scale

The step response for any LTI object can be plotted with a user-

supplied time vector. This vector will specify the time interval over

which the step response will be calculated. If the vector is spaced at

small time intervals, the plot will look smoother. Specifcally, a

specified time vector can be supplied via the second input to the
function as shown below.

step(sys,t);

In the above two plots, only the first 6 seconds of the response are
In the above two plots, only the first 6 seconds of the response are

shown. Suppose that the first 10 seconds need to be displayed. A

time vector can be created to compute the step response over this

range. Adding the following commands to your m-file and running will
generate the figure shown below.

t=0:0.1:10;

step(sys,t);

As you can see, the plot goes for 10 seconds.

Saving the response

The final note about the step command is that all of the above

variations can be used with a lefthand arguments. There are two

ways to invoke the lefthand arguments, depending on whether or not

the time vector was supplied to the stepcommand.

[y,t] = step(sys);

or

[y,t] = step(sys,t);

If the system is in state-space form, then the time histories of the

internal states can also be returned.

[y,t,x] = step(sys);

The yvector contains the output response. It has as many columns

as outputs and as many rows as elements in the time vector, t. The x

vector contains the state response. It has as many columns as states

and as many rows as elements in the time vector, t. When used with

lefthand arguments, no plot is drawn when the step function is

called. You will usually want to put a semicolon after the step

command when you invoke it with lefthand arguments; otherwise,

MATLAB will print out the entire output, state, and time vectors to the
command window. You can plot the output response using

plot(t,y)and the state response using plot(t,x).

Step response of discrete-time systems

If the system under consideration is a discrete-time system, stepwill

plot the output as piecewise constant. If the sampling time is

unspecified, the output time scale will be in samples. If the sampling

time is specified, the time scale will be in seconds. Consider the

following example.

num = 1;

den = [1 0.5];

Ts = 0.1;

sys = tf(num,den,Ts)

step(sys)

sys =

-------

z + 0.5

Sample time: 0.1 seconds

Discrete-time transfer function.

 Published w ith MATLAB® 7.14

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