AV-356

FEEDBACK CONTROL SYSTEMS

Lecture No 04

Mason’s Gain Formula

Text Book : Feedback Control Systems by Phillips and Parr,

5th Edition, Pearson, 2010
Chapter 2

Instructor : Dr. Qasim Ali

Number of Slides: 10
 Lecture Objectives

• Purpose of Mason’s Gain Formula

• Introduction of definitions required for
formula understanding
• To discuss Mason’s Gain Formula
• Applications of the formula

2
 Mason’s Gain Formula
• Mason’s gain formula is a procedure to
find the transfer function of either a
block diagram or a signal flow graph
• Here we only consider rules for signal
flow graph but the same rules apply to
block diagram as well

3
Mason’s Gain Formula

4
 Mason’s Gain Formula
• Some definitions
– Source Node
• A node for which the signals flow only away from
the node
– Sink Node
• A node for which signals flow only towards the
node (sometimes we need to create a sink node by
adding a branch of unity gain)
– Path
• A continuous connection of branches from one
node to another with all arrowheads pointing in the
same direction
5
 Mason’s Gain Formula
• Some definitions
– Loop
• A closed path (with all arrowheads in the same
direction) in which no node is encountered more
than once (i.e a node is encountered only once)
– Farward Path
• A path that connects a source node to a sink node,
in which no node is encountered more than once
(i.e a node is encountered only once)
– Path Gain
• Product of the transfer functions of all branches
that forms the path
6
 Mason’s Gain Formula
• Some definitions
– Loop Gain
• Product of the transfer functions of all branches
that forms the loop
– Nontouching
• Two loops are nontouching if they have no node in
common

7
Mason’s Gain Formula

8
 Mason’s Gain Formula
Example 2.7

Signal Flow Graph

 Assignment 2
Q1: Find an equivalent system for the following
diagram using Mason’s Gain Formula.