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10.1: State Variable Models of Sampled-Data Systems

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    Discretizing the State Variable Model

    System models described with state variables can be converted to their discrete-time equivalents by considering a zero-order hold (ZOH) at the input of the model. The ZOH device converts the output of a digital controller (a number sequence) into a piece-wise constant continuous-time signal by holding its output constant over successive time periods.

    To develop this approach, let the continuous-time state variable model be given as:

    \[\dot{x}(t)=Ax(t)+Bu(t) \nonumber \]

    \[y(t)=Cx(t) \nonumber \]

    where \(A\) is the system matrix, \(B\) is the input matrix, and \(C\) is the output matrix.

    In order to discretize the continuous-time state equations, we consider the time-domain solution to the state equation (Chapter 8) given in terms of a convolution integral:

    \[x(t)=e^{A(t-t_{0} )} x_{0} +\int _{t_{0} }^{\tau } e^{A(t-\tau )} B\,u(\tau )\,\rm d\tau \nonumber \]

    It is assumed that the system state is available at \(t_{0} =(k-1)T\); then, assuming a constant input, \(u_k\), the state at \(t=kT\) is given as:

    \[x_{k} =e^{At} x_{k-1} +\int _{(k-1)T}^{kT} e^{AT} B\,u_{k} \,\rm d\tau \nonumber \]

    A simple change of variables results in the following expression:

    \[x_{k} =e^{At} x_{k-1} \; +\int _{0}^{T} e^{AT} d\tau \, B\, u_{k} \nonumber \]

    Let the system and input matrices appearing in the discrete-time model be defined as:

    \[A_{\rm d} =e^{AT} ,\; \; B_{\rm d} =\int _{0}^{T} e^{A\tau } d\tau B \nonumber \]

    Then, after a time shift, the discrete-time state variable model is expressed as:

    \[x_{k+1} =A_{\rm d} x_{k} +B_{\rm d} u_{k} ,\; \; \; y_{k} =C_{\rm d} x_{k} . \nonumber \]

    where \(C_{\rm d} =C.\)

    Assuming that system matrix \(A\) is invertible, the expression for \(B_{\rm d}\) can be simplified as:

    \[B_{\rm d} =\left[\int _{0}^{T} \left(I+A\tau +\frac{A^{2} \tau ^{2} }{2!} +\ldots \right)d\tau \right]=\left(IT+\frac{AT^{2} }{2!} +\ldots \right)B=A^{-1} (e^{AT} -I)B \nonumber \]

    The system and input matrices \(\left(A_{\rm d} ,B_{\rm d} \right)\) appearing in the discrete-time model are parameterized by the sample time, \(T\). Hence, changing \(T\) will change the discrete-time model.

    In the MATLAB Control Systems Toolbox, ‘c2d’ command is used for the discretizing a state variable model; the presence of a ZOH at the input is assumed, but other options are available.

    Example \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    The state variable model of a DC motor is given as:

    \[\frac{\rm d}{\rm dt} \left[\begin{array}{c} {i_{a} } \\ {\omega } \end{array}\right]=\left[\begin{array}{cc} {-100} & {-5} \\ {5} & {-10} \end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c} {i_{a} } \\ {\omega } \end{array}\right]+\left[\begin{array}{c} {100} \\ {0} \end{array}\right]V_{a} , \;\;\omega =\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0} & {1} \end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c} {i_{a} } \\ {\omega } \end{array}\right] \nonumber \]

    Let \(T=0.02\; \rm s\), a value five times faster than the dominant motor time constant: \(\tau _\rm m \cong 0.1\; \rm s.\); then, the system and input matrices for the discrete model are computed as:

    \[A_{\rm d} =e^{At} =\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0.134} & {-0.038} \\ {0.038} & {0.816} \end{array}\right], B_{\rm d} =A^{-1} \left(e^{At} -I\right)B=\left[\begin{array}{c} {0.863} \\ {0.053} \end{array}\right] \nonumber \]

    The resulting discrete state variable model is given as:

    \[\left[\begin{array}{c} {i_{k+1} } \\ {\omega _{k+1} } \end{array}\right]=\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0.134} & {-0.038} \\ {0.038} & {0.816} \end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c} {i_{k} } \\ {\omega _{k} } \end{array}\right]+\left[\begin{array}{c} {0.863} \\ {0.053} \end{array}\right]V_{k} , \;\; y_{k} =\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0} & {1} \end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c} {i_{k} } \\ {\omega _{k} } \end{array}\right] \nonumber \]

    An alternate state variable model of the DC motor is obtained by using the ‘ss’ command in the MATLAB Control Systems Toolbox to realize the motor transfer function; the model is given as:

    \[\left[ \begin{array}{c} {\dot{x}}_1 \\ {\dot{x}}_2 \end{array} \right]=\left[ \begin{array}{cc} -110 & -32.03 \\ 32 & 0 \end{array} \right]\left[ \begin{array}{c} x_1 \\ x_2 \end{array} \right]+\left[ \begin{array}{c} 4 \\ 0 \end{array} \right]V_a,\ \ \omega =\left[ \begin{array}{cc} 0 & 3.906 \end{array} \right]\left[ \begin{array}{c} x_1 \\ x_2 \end{array} \right] \nonumber \]

    By using the MATLAB ‘c2d’ command, the corresponding discrete-time model is obtained as:

    \[\left[\begin{array}{c} {x_{1,\,k+1} } \\ {x_{2,\,k+1} } \end{array}\right]=\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0.058} & {-0.243} \\ {0.243} & {0.892} \end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c} {x_{1,\,k} } \\ {x_{2,\,k} } \end{array}\right]+\left[\begin{array}{c} {0.030} \\ {0.013} \end{array}\right]\, u_{k} , \;\;y_{k} =\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0} & {3.91} \end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c} {x_{1,\,k} } \\ {x_{2,\,k} } \end{array}\right] \nonumber \]

    The two discrete-time state variables of the DC motor are equivalent, i.e., they both share the same \(z\)-plane eigenvalues:\(\ z_{1,2}=0.814,\ 0.136\); these values are related to the analog system eigenvalues: \(s_{1,2}=-99.7,\ -10.28\) by the relation: \(z=e^{Ts}\).

    Iterative Solution to Discrete State Equations

    The discrete-time state equations constitute a set of first-order difference equations that can be easily solved by iteration. Toward this end, let the discrete state equation be given as:

    \[x_{k+1} =A_{\rm d} x_{k} +B_{\rm d} u_{k} , \;\;y_{k} =C_{\rm d} x_{k} \nonumber \]

    Starting from an initial vector, \(x_0\), and given an input sequence \(u\left\{k\right\}\), an iterative solution to the discrete state equation is developed as follows:

    \[x_{1} =A_{\rm d} x_{0} +B_{\rm d} u_{0} \nonumber \]

    \[x_{2} =A_{\rm d} ^{2} x_{0} +A_{\rm d} B_{\rm d} u_{0} +B_{\rm d} u_{1} \nonumber \]

    \[\vdots \nonumber \]

    \[x_{n} =A_{\rm d}^{n} x_{0} +\sum _{k=0}^{n-1} A_{\rm d}^{n-1-k} B_{\rm d} u_{k} \nonumber \]

    Let \(\Phi (k)=A_{\rm d}^{k}\) define the discrete state-transition matrix; then, the solution is given as:

    \[x_{n} =\Phi (n)x_{0} +\sum _{k=0}^{n-1} \Phi (n-1-k)B_{\rm d} u_{k} \nonumber \]

    Example \(\PageIndex{2}\)

    The discrete state variable model of a dc motor (\(T=0.02s\)) is given as:

    \[A_{\rm d} =\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0.134} & {-0.038} \\ {0.038} & {0.816} \end{array}\right],\; \; B_{\rm d} =\left[\begin{array}{c} {0.863} \\ {0.053} \end{array}\right],\; \; C_{\rm d} =\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0} & {1} \end{array}\right] \nonumber \]

    Assuming zero initial conditions and a unit-input sequence: \(u_{k} =\{ 1,\; 1,\ldots \} ;\) the output sequence is iteratively computed as:

    \[y\left\{k\right\}=\{0,\ 0.053,\ 0.128,\ 0.194,\ 0.249,\ 0.293,\ 0.329,\ 0.359,\ 0.383,\ 0.402,\ 0.418,\dots \} \nonumber \]

    The Pulse Transfer Function

    The pulse transfer function, \(G(z)\), of a sampled-data system can be obtained from discrete state equations by the application of \(z\)-transform:

    \[zx(z)-zx_{0} =A_{\rm d} x(z)+B_{\rm d} u(z) \nonumber \]

    The above equation is solved assuming zero initial conditions to obtain:

    \[x(z)=(zI-A_{\rm d} )^{-1} B_{\rm d} u(z) \nonumber \]

    The output equation is defined as:

    \[y(z)=C_{\rm d} (zI-A_{\rm d} )^{-1} B_{\rm d} u(z)=G(z)u(z) \nonumber \]

    Given the discrete state equations, the pulse transfer function is obtained as:

    \[G(z)=C_{\rm d} (zI-A_{\rm d} )^{-1} B_{\rm d} \nonumber \]

    The discrete state-transition matrix is obtained by taking the inverse \(z\)-transform of \((zI-A_{\rm d} )^{-1}\) as:

    \[\phi (k)=z^{-1} \left\{(zI-A_{\rm d} )^{-1} \right\}=A_{\rm d}^{k} \nonumber \]

    In terms of the state transition matrix, the unit-pulse response the sampled-data system is obtained as:

    \[g_{k} =C_{\rm d} A_{\rm d}^{k-1} B,\; \; k\ge 0 \nonumber \]

    In the MATLAB Control System Toolbox, the pulse transfer function for a given discrete state variable model can be obtained by invoking the ‘tf’ command.

    Example \(\PageIndex{3}\)

    The discrete state variable model of a dc motor (\(T=0.02s\)) is given as:

    \[A_{\rm d} =\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0.134} & {-0.038} \\ {0.038} & {0.816} \end{array}\right],\; \; B_{\rm d} =\left[\begin{array}{c} {0.863} \\ {0.053} \end{array}\right],\; \; C_{\rm d} =\left[\begin{array}{cc} {0} & {1} \end{array}\right] \nonumber \]

    By using the 'tf' command in MATLAB, the motor pulse transfer function is obtained as:

    \[G\left(z\right)=\frac{0.053z+0.0257}{z^2-0.95z+0.111}. \nonumber \]


    This page titled 10.1: State Variable Models of Sampled-Data Systems is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Kamran Iqbal.

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