POLES AND ZEROS

Answer 3

POLES AND ZEROS

Poles and Zeros of a transfer function are the frequencies for which the value of the transfer function becomes infinity or zero respectively. The values of the poles and the zeros of a system determine whether the system is stable, and how well the system performs. Control systems, in the most simple sense, can be designed simply by assigning specific values to the poles and zeros of the system.

Physically realizable control systems must have a number of poles greater than or equal to the number of zeros. Systems that satisfy this relationship are called proper. We will elaborate on this below.

Let's say we have a transfer function defined as a ratio of two polynomials:

H(S)=N(S)/D(s).

Where N(s) and D(s) are simple polynomials. Zeros are the roots of N(s) (the numerator of the transfer function) obtained by setting N(s) = 0 and solving for s.

Poles are the roots of D(s) (the denominator of the transfer function), obtained by setting D(s) = 0 and solving for s. Because of our restriction above, that a transfer function must not have more zeros then poles, we can state that the polynomial order of D(s) must be greater then or equal to the polynomial order of N(s).

Effects of Poles and Zeros

As s approaches a zero, the numerator of the transfer function (and therefore the transfer function itself) approaches the value 0. When s approaches a pole, the denominator of the transfer function approaches zero, and the value of the transfer function approaches infinity. An output value of infinity should raise an alarm bell for people who are familiar with BIBO stability. Tthe locations of the poles, and the values of the real and imaginary parts of the pole determine the response of the system. Real parts correspond to exponentials, and imaginary parts correspond to sinusoidal values.

The stability of a linear system may be determined directly from its transfer function. An nth order linear system is asymptotically stable only if all of the components in the homogeneous response from a finite set of initial conditions decay to zero as time increases.In order for a linear system to be stable, all of its poles must have negative real parts.

Reference:

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