Control Systems

Winter 2021

Instructor: Michael McCourt Assignment: Homework 1

Due: Tuesday, January 12

You are encouraged to work with other students on this assignment. However, each student should complete the
homework and submit as an individual.

1. Find the solution to the unforced ODE given with initial conditions y(0) = 2 and ẏ(0) = 8.

2ÿ(t) + 8ẏ(t) − 10y(t) = 0

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2. Find the solution to the unforced ODE given with initial conditions y(0) = 2 and ẏ(0) = 1.

16ÿ(t) − 8ẏ(t) + 145y(t) = 0

3. Each of the following transfer functions represents a dynamical system. For each one, find the poles and
zeros of the system and characterize the equilibrium as stable, unstable, or marginally stable.

(a)
s−3
G(s) =
s2 + 4s + 8
(b)
s2 + 11s + 24
H(s) =
2s3 + s2 − 3s
(c)
s2 + 10s + 29
L(s) =
s3 + 8s2 + 9s + 72

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4. For this problem, use the circuit below where R = 3 Ω, L = 13 H, C = 71 F , and vo (t) is the voltage across
the resistor. Assume zero initial conditions.
Vo (s)
(a) Find the transfer function G(s) = Vi (s) .
(b) Given that vi (t) = 20cos(t), use the transfer function to find vo (t).

C
L
+vo

vi + R
−

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Control Systems Winter 2021

5. Consider a system given by the following transfer function in feedback with a proportional controller K.
2s + 1
G(s) =
s−3

r + e u y
K G(s)
-

(a) Find the poles and zeros of this transfer function G(s) and classify stability.
(b) Find the closed loop transfer function Gcl (s) (mapping r → y) with K as a variable.
(c) Find the gain K to place the closed loop pole at − 31 for a stable feedback system.

6. Complete the following problems in MATLAB. Create a document with both the code used to solve the
problems and the solution to each problem. You may combine this document with the rest of your scanned
work or submit a separate document (Word or PDF) with your work on this specific problem.

(a) Evaluate the function y(t) for the vector t = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

y(t) = 4e−t cos(t/2) + 3e2t cos(2t)

(b) Solve the matrix problem below for x1 and x2 .

    
 1 5 x1  −3
   =  
    
−1 2 x2 −4

(c) Create a time vector t from -2 to 3 in steps of 0.01. Plot the function from part (a) over this time
vector. Label the vertical axis “Output y of ODE” and horizontal axis “Time (s)”.

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