Digital Control Module 5 Lecture 5

Module 5: Design of Sampled Data Control Systems

1 Bode Plot
Bode plot is the graphical tool for drawing the frequency response of a system.

It is represented by two separate plots, one is the magnitude vs frequency and the other
one is phase vs frequency.The magnitude is expressed in dB and the frequency is generally
plotted in log scale.

One of the advantages of the Bode plot in s-domain is that the magnitude curve can be
approximated by straight lines which allows the sketching of the magnitude plot without
exact computation.

This feature is lost when we plot Bode diagram in z-domain . To incorporate this feature we
use bi-linear transformation to transform unit circle of the z-plane into the imaginary axis of
another complex plane, w plane, where
1
w= ln(z)
T

From the power series expansion

2 (z − 1)
w=
T (z + 1)
2 wT
+w 1+
⇒z= T = 2
2 wT
−w 1−
T 2
For frequency domain analysis the above bi-linear transformation may be used to convert
GH(z) to GH(w) and then construct the Bode plot.

I. Kar 1
Digital Control Module 5 Lecture 5

Example 1: Let us consider a digital control system for which the loop transfer function is
given by
0.095z
GH(z) =
(z − 1)(z − 0.9)
wT
1+ 2
where sampling time T = 0.1 sec. Putting z = wT
, we get the transfer function in w
1− 2
plane as
10.02(1 − 0.0025w2 )
GH(w) = (T = 0.1 sec)
w(1 + 1.0026w)

10.02(1 − 0.05w)(1 + 0.05w)

10.02(1 − 0.05jωw )(1 + 0.05jωw )

where ωw is the frequency in w plane. Corner frequencies are 1/1.0026 = 0.997 rad/sec and
1/0.05 = 20 rad/sec.

The straight line asymptotes of the Bode plot can be drawn using the following.

• Up to ωw = 0.997 rad/sec, the magnitude plot is a straight line with slope −20
dB/decade. At ωw = 0.01 rad/sec, the magnitude is 20 log10 (10.02)−20 log10 (0.01) = 60
dB.

• From ωw = 0.997 rad/sec to ωw = 20 rad/sec, the magnitude plot is a straight line with
slope −20 − 20 = −40 dB/decade.

• Since both of the zeros will contribute same to the magnitude plot, after ωw = 20
rad/sec, the slope of the straight line will be −40 + 20 + 20 = 0dB/decade.

The asymptotic magnitude plot is shown in Figure 1.

One should remember that the actual plot will be slightly different from the asymptotic plot.
In the actual plot, errors due to straight line assumptions is compensated.

Phase plot is drawn by varying the frequency from 0.01 to 100 rad/sec at regular inter-
vals. The phase angle contributed by one zero will be canceled by the other. Thus the phase
will vary from −90o (270o ) to −180o (180o ).

Figure 2 shows the actual magnitude and phase plot as drawn in MATLAB.

I. Kar 2
Digital Control Module 5 Lecture 5

Mag. in dB

80

60

40

20

−20

−40 log ωw
0.01 0.1 1 10 20 100
Frequency in rad/sec (log scale)

Figure 1: Bode asymptotic magnitude plot for Example 1

Bode Diagram

80
60
Magnitude (dB)

40
20
0
−20
−40
270
Phase (deg)

225

180
−2 −1 0 1 2
10 10 10 10 10
Frequency (rad/sec)

Figure 2: Bode magnitude and phase plot for Example 1

I. Kar 3
Digital Control Module 5 Lecture 5

1.1 Gain margin and Phase margin

Similar to continuous time case, we have to first define phase and gain cross over frequencies
before defining gain margin and phase margin.

Gain margin is the safety factor by which the open loop gain of a system can be increased
before the system becomes unstable. It is measured as
 
 1 
GM = 20 log10   dB
GH(eiωp T ) 

where ωp is the phase crossover frequency which is defined as the frequency where the phase
of the loop transfer function GH(eiωT ) is 180o .

Similarly Phase margin (PM) is defined as

P M = 180o + 6 GH(eiωg T )

where ωg is the gain crossover frequency which is defined as the frequency where the loop
gain magnitude of the system becomes one.

1.2 Compensator design using Bode plot

Nyquist plot is difficult to modify after introducing controller.

Instead Bode plot is used since two important design criteria, phase margin and gain crossover
frequency are visible from the Bode plot along with gain margin.

Points to remember

• Low frequency asymptote of the magnitude curve is indicative of one of the error
constants Kp , Kv , Ka depending on the system types.

• Specifications on the transient response can be translated into phase margin (PM), gain
margin (GM), gain crossover frequency, bandwidth etc.

• Design using bode plot is simple and straight forward.

• Reconstruction of Bode plot is not a difficult task.

I. Kar 4
Digital Control Module 5 Lecture 5

1.3 Phase lead, Phase lag and Lag-lead compensators

Before going into the details of the design procedure, we must remember the following.

• Phase lead compensation is used to improve stability margins. It increases system

• Phase lag compensation reduces the system gain at high frequencies with out reducing
low frequency gain. Thus the total gain/low frequency gain can be increased which in
turn will improve the steady state accuracy. High frequency noise can also be attenu-
ated. But stability margin and bandwidth reduce.

• Using a lag lead compensator, where a lag compensator is cascaded with a lead com-
pensator, both steady state and transient responses can be improved.

Bi-linear transformation transfers the loop transfer function in z-plane to w-plane.

Since qualitatively w-plane is similar to s-plane, design technique used in s-plane can be
employed to design a controller in w-plane.

Once the design is done in w-plane, controller in z-plane can be determined by using the
inverse transformation from w-plane to z-plane.

In the next two lectures we will discuss compensator design in s-plane and solve examples to
design digital controllers using the same concept.

I. Kar 5