A brief and limited introduction to Bode plots

Anindya Chatterjee
August 22, 2010

Consider a stable plant with open loop transfer function 0(s). Say
0(s) =
-1uu(s -1)(s + S)
(s
2
+ u.1s +1u)(s +2)
.

Stability is crucial, i.e., all poles are in the LHP. Zeros in the RHP are allowed.

The response of the system to a harmonic input at an angular frequency can be found by inserting
s = ] in 0(s).

The magnitude of 0(s) can then be plotted on a log scale (in dB) against frequency, and the phase
(in degrees) against frequency. Frequency is plotted on logarithmic axes as well. This is a Bode plot.
Here it is for our example 0(s).


We note some things. (1) There is a big peak near about 3 rad/s (actually, seeing the transfer
function, we know this is near 1u. That is also the frequency where the phase crosses -18u
degrees. Finally, we note the frequency where the magnitude is 1, i.e., 0 dB: it is about 100 rad/sec.
Here is a zoomed view.


The magnitude at the 180-degree frequency is about 62 dB.

Recall that if we use the usual feedback, the closed loop transfer function is
u(s)
1+Ku(s)
. For the system
to reach instability, we must have K0(s) = 1. This means that the phase has to be 180 or -18u
degrees, and the gain times the amplitude at the corresponding frequency should be equal to 1.
Note that 62 dB implies an actual amplitude of 1u
6220
=1260 (approx), so the system should
become unstable when the gain K =
1
1260
= 8 1u
-4
(approx). A root locus plot verifies the same
(check in Matlab). This gain is called the gain margin and is a measure of the stability of the system,
written as -62 dB. This system is close to unstable. A different measure of instability is the
difference in the phase (at the 0 dB frequency) from 180 or -180 degrees (the phase margin). In this
case, the margin is not small.

Now let us consider a different, somewhat better behaved, plant. Let
0(s) =
1uu(s +1)(s +S)
(s
2
+ u.1s +1u)(s +2)
.
Note that there are no RHP zeros. Actually, the root locus plot for this case shows stability for all
K > u. And the Bode plot, correspondingly, shows no frequency at which the phase is _18u
degrees, indicating an infinite gain margin. These 2 figures follow.




One immediate advantage of feedback for even stable plants can be seen by considering the Bode
plot of
u(s)
1+u(s)
, as shown below. The resonant peak is suppressed, and the response is much flatter,
which may be desirable in, e.g., amplifiers for electronics and shakers for vibration testing.



Another advantage of feedback can be seen easily using Bode plots. Imagine that instead of the
above G(s), due to unmodeled errors, our actual transfer function is
0
1
(s) =
9u(s +1.1)(s + S.2)
(s
2
+1.1s +7)(s +2.2)
.
The Bode plots without feedback, and with unit gain feedback with K = 1, are plotted below. In the
latter case, there is hardly any effect. The red plot refers to 0
1
(s).



and with feedback: