Stability of digitally interconnected linear systems

Abstract-A sufficient condition for stability of linear subsystems interconnected by digitized signals is presented. There is a digitizer for each linear subsystem that periodically samples an input signal and produces an output that is quantized and saturated. The output of the digitizer is then fed as an input (in the usual sense) to the linear subsystem. Due to digitization, each subsystem behaves as a switched affine system, where state-dependent switches are induced by the digitizer. For each quantization region, a storage function is computed for each subsystem by solving appropriate linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), and the sum of these storage functions is a Lyapunov function for the interconnected system. Finally, using a condition on the sampling period, we specify a subset of the unsaturated state space from which all executions of the interconnected system reach a neighborhood of the quantization region containing the origin. The sampling period proves to be pivotal-if it is too small, then a dwell-time argument cannot be used to establish convergence, while if it is too large, an unstable subsystem may not receive timely-enough inputs to avoid diverging

Stability of digitally interconnected linear systems

Abstract-A sufficient condition for stability of linear subsystems interconnected by digitized signals is presented. There is a digitizer for each linear subsystem that periodically samples an input signal and produces an output that is quantized and saturated. The output of the digitizer is then fed as an input (in the usual sense) to the linear subsystem. Due to digitization, each subsystem behaves as a switched affine system, where state-dependent switches are induced by the digitizer. For each quantization region, a storage function is computed for each subsystem by solving appropriate linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), and the sum of these storage functions is a Lyapunov function for the interconnected system. Finally, using a condition on the sampling period, we specify a subset of the unsaturated state space from which all executions of the interconnected system reach a neighborhood of the quantization region containing the origin. The sampling period proves to be pivotal-if it is too small, then a dwell-time argument cannot be used to establish convergence, while if it is too large, an unstable subsystem may not receive timely-enough inputs to avoid diverging

Small gain theorems for large scale systems and construction of ISS Lyapunov functions

We consider interconnections of n nonlinear subsystems in the input-to-state stability (ISS) framework. For each subsystem an ISS Lyapunov function is given that treats the other subsystems as independent inputs. A gain matrix is used to encode the mutual dependencies of the systems in the network. Under a small gain assumption on the monotone operator induced by the gain matrix, a locally Lipschitz continuous ISS Lyapunov function is obtained constructively for the entire network by appropriately scaling the individual Lyapunov functions for the subsystems. The results are obtained in a general formulation of ISS, the cases of summation, maximization and separation with respect to external gains are obtained as corollaries.Comment: provisionally accepted by SIAM Journal on Control and Optimizatio

Analysis of an On-Line Stability Monitoring Approach for DC Microgrid Power Converters

An online approach to evaluate and monitor the stability margins of dc microgrid power converters is presented in this paper. The discussed online stability monitoring technique is based on the Middlebrook's loop-gain measurement technique, adapted to the digitally controlled power converters. In this approach, a perturbation is injected into a specific digital control loop of the converter and after measuring the loop gain, its crossover frequency and phase margin are continuously evaluated and monitored. The complete analytical derivation of the model, as well as detailed design aspects, are reported. In addition, the presence of multiple power converters connected to the same dc bus, all having the stability monitoring unit, is also investigated. An experimental microgrid prototype is implemented and considered to validate the theoretical analysis and simulation results, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the digital implementation of the technique for different control loops. The obtained results confirm the expected performance of the stability monitoring tool in steady-state and transient operating conditions. The proposed method can be extended to generic control loops in power converters operating in dc microgrids

Automatic oscillator frequency control system

A frequency control system makes an initial correction of the frequency of its own timing circuit after comparison against a frequency of known accuracy and then sequentially checks and corrects the frequencies of several voltage controlled local oscillator circuits. The timing circuit initiates the machine cycles of a central processing unit which applies a frequency index to an input register in a modulo-sum frequency divider stage and enables a multiplexer to clock an accumulator register in the divider stage with a cyclical signal derived from the oscillator circuit being checked. Upon expiration of the interval, the processing unit compares the remainder held as the contents of the accumulator against a stored zero error constant and applies an appropriate correction word to a correction stage to shift the frequency of the oscillator being checked. A signal from the accumulator register may be used to drive a phase plane ROM and, with periodic shifts in the applied frequency index, to provide frequency shift keying of the resultant output signal. Interposition of a phase adder between the accumulator register and phase plane ROM permits phase shift keying of the output signal by periodic variation in the value of a phase index applied to one input of the phase adder

Optical techniques to feed and control GaAs MMIC modules for phased array antenna applications

A complex signal distribution system is required to feed and control GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for phased array antenna applications above 20 GHz. Each MMIC module will require one or more RF lines, one or more bias voltage lines, and digital lines to provide a minimum of 10 bits of combined phase and gain control information. In a closely spaced array, the routing of these multiple lines presents difficult topology problems as well as a high probability of signal interference. To overcome GaAs MMIC phased array signal distribution problems optical fibers interconnected to monolithically integrated optical components with GaAs MMIC array elements are proposed as a solution. System architecture considerations using optical fibers are described. The analog and digital optical links to respectively feed and control MMIC elements are analyzed. It is concluded that a fiber optic network will reduce weight and complexity, and increase reliability and performance, but higher power will be required