EE207/23/Maj

EE207 Control Engineering

Major Test

Time: 3 hrs (Open Book) Marks: 60

Note:

y For problems that have stated method for solution, use of alternative methods will not secure any
credit.
y There is no credit for any graphic, or graphic solution. Figures may be used by students only for ease
of understanding problems, with no mark expected for them.
____________________________________________________________________________________

1 When a certain SISO system is fed with AC inputs at different frequencies, its gain is found to be
approximately 0.8 at low frequencies, rising to 1.5 for an input of 2 rad/s, and thereafter dropping to very low
values at higher frequencies. If the system is known to be dominated by second order dynamics within the
bandwidth, estimate the BW in rad/s with DC gain taken as the reference maximum. ...(10)

2 A mechanical system has a digitised form:

x 1 (k + 1 ) 0 1 x 1 (k ) 0
= $ + $ u(k )
x 2 (k + 1 ) −0.5 −a 1 x 2 (k ) 1

x 1 (k )
y(k ) = 1 0 $
x 2 (k )
where a1 is dependent on viscous friction of an element within the system.
a. Obtain the range of a1 for which the system is stable.
b. Obtain the range of a1 for which the system is controllable..
c. Obtain the range of a1 for which the system is observable. ...(4+3+3)

3 The linear system:

$ 0 1 −1
x (t ) = $x(t ) + $ u(t ) ; y(t ) = 1 0 $x(t )
0 −3 4
is closed through a feedback u(t ) = −k $ y(t ), where k is an adjustable gain. For the resulting closed loop state
space system,
a. What is the dependence of CL natural frequency on k ?
b. What is the dependence of CL damping ratio on k ?
c. Obtain an expression for the root locus in terms of real and imaginary components of CL poles. ...(5+5+5)

4 A prey-predatory system is modelled using variables x1 and x2 as proportionate to prey population and predator
population, respectively. The dynamics are given by
$ $
x 1 = x 1 (1 − x 1 − ax 2 ) ; x 2 = bx 2 (x 1 − x 2 )
where a and b are positive constants.
a. If the two populations must be identical at equilibria, what are the equilibria possible ?
b. Investigate stability of each equilibrium that you find, using the sum total of the two populations as a
logical Lyapunov function.
...(5+10)

5 For a given analog system, the sensitivity function is obtained between a disturbance source and output as
S(s ) = s/(s 2 + s + 1 )
For a measured output signal
y(t ) = 5 sin(0.1t ) + 3 sin(0.17t ) + 0.5 cos(0.9t ) + 0.1t
only the ramp was to be expected in absence of all disturbances. What is the disturbance at source, inclusive of
all frequency components ? ....(10)
 EE207/23/Maj

EE207: Control Engineering

Solutions to Major Test

1 Natural frequency of the system is obviously 2 rad/s, with DC gain of 0.8. The transfer function may therefore
be approximated as

G(s ) = 0.8 % 2 2
s 2 + 2 % 2s + 2 2

= 3.2
s 2 + 4s + 4
At the corner frequency, the gain is 1.5, so that
1.5 = 3.2
4 % 2
u  = 0.2667

u G(s ) = 3.2
s 2 + 1.0667s + 4
Relative to the DC gain, the BW is obtained at the point where the gain drops by 3dB, so that
0.8 2 = 3.2 2
2 (4 − * 2BW ) + (1.0667* BW ) 2
2

u * 4BW − 6.8622* 2BW − 16 = 0

6.8622 ! 47.0898 + 64
u * 2BW = = 8.7010 rad 2 /s 2
2
u * BW = 2.9498 rad/s
(20 marks)

2
a. For stability, we examine the roots of
z −1
=0
0.5 z + a 1

u z 2 + a 1 z + 0.5 = 0

−a 1 ! a 21 − 2
uz=
2
For the poles to be within the unit circle,
a 1 + a 21 − 2
For a 1 m 2 : <1
2
a 21 + (2 − a 21 )
For a 1 < 2 : <1
4
Simplification gives
y For real poles, 3/2 > a 1 m 2 and
y For complex poles, any a 1 < 2
which together show the system to be stable for any a1 < 3/2.

b.
Controllability matrix is obtained as
0 1
g | F$g =
1 −a 1
whose determinant is −1 regardless of the value of a1. The system is therefore always controllable.
 EE207/23/Maj
c.
Observability matrix is obtained as
c
1 0
− =
0 1
c$F
whose determinant is +1 regardless of the value of a1. The system is therefore always observable .
(4+3+3 marks)

3. The system complete with feedback is given by

$ ⎧ 0 1 −1 ⎫
x (t ) = ⎨ + $ (−k ) $ 1 0 ⎬ $ x(t )
⎩ 0 −3 4 ⎭
⎧ 0 1 k 0 ⎫
=⎨ + ⎬ $ x(t )
⎩ 0 −3 −4k 0 ⎭
k 1
= $ x(t )
−4k −3
The characteristic equation is easily obtained as
s − k −1
=0
4k s + 3

u (s − k )(s + 3 ) + 4k = 0
u s 2 + (3 − k )s + k = 0
a. Natural frequency is obtained as * n = k
b. Damping ratio is obtained as  = (3 − k )/ 2 k
c. For the root locus, we note −2 times the real part of poles to be (3−k), and the square of natural frequency
to be k. We relate the two as
" = (k − 3 )/2
"2 + *2 = k
Combining the two with elimination of k:
" 2 + * 2 = 2" + 3
u (" − 1 ) 2 + * 2 = 4
which is a circular locus of radius 2 centred at (1, 0)
(5+5+5 marks)

4.
a. Equilibria can be detected by equating each time derivative to zero. We get
x 1 (1 − x 1 − ax 2 ) = 0
bx 2 (x 1 − x 2 ) = 0
These are satisfied at

x 1 = x 2 = 0 ; x 1 = x 2 = (1 + a ) −1
b. With the Lyapunov function as sum of the two variables, we examine the first equilibrium point as
V(0, 0 ) = 0
V(x 1 , x 2 ) > 0 for (x 1 , x 2 ) ! (0, 0 )
and
 EE207/23/Maj
$
ØV(x 1 , x 2 ) x1
= =V T (x 1 , x 2 ) $ $
Øt x2

= x 1 (1 − x 1 − ax 2 ) + bx 2 (x 1 − x 2 )
= −x 21 − bx 22 − (a − b )x 1 x 2 + x 1
which is assured to be negative only if
(a − b )x 1 x 2 > x 1

u x 2 > (a − b ) −1

The second equilibrium point has

1 , 1
V = 2
1+a 1+a 1+a
At other points, the value of V depends on x1 and x2, that is, may be greater or lesser than that at the
equilibrium.

Thus (for different reasons) nothing definite can be said about stability of either point using V(x1, x2) =
x1 + x2.
(5+10 marks)

5. At a given frequency within the BW, the sensitivity function can be evaluated as
j*
S(j* ) =
(1 − * 2 ) + j*

= * Õ 90 ) − tan −1 *
(1 − * 2 ) 2 + * 2 (1 − * 2 )

from input to output. So at the three frequencies present in the noise, the sensitivity is obtained as
0.1rad/s : 0.1005Õ84.23 )
0.17rad/s : 0.1724Õ80.07 )
0.9rad/s : 0.9784Õ11.92 )
From noise component within the output, the disturbance at source must be:
5 sin(0.1t − 84.23 ) ) + 3 sin(0.17t − 80.07 ) ) + 0.5 cos(0.9t − 11.92 ) )
0.1005 0.1724 0.9784
= 49.75 sin(0.1t − 84.23 ) ) + 17.40 sin(0.17t − 80.07 ) ) + 0.5110 cos(0.9t − 11.92 ) )
(10 marks)