4.

1 Design by Pole Placement

Ackermann’s Formula: Consider the system
𝒙̇ = 𝑨𝒙 + 𝑩𝑢
We assume that the system is completely state controllable. We also assume that the
desired closed-loop poles are at s = µ1, s = µ2, . . . ,s = µn.
Use of the state feedback control
𝑢 = − 𝑲𝒙
modifies the system equation to

𝒙̇ = (𝑨 − 𝑩𝑲)𝒙 (4.1.1)

Let us define
̃ = 𝑨 − 𝑩𝑲
𝐀
The desired characteristic equation is
|𝑠𝑰 − 𝑨 + 𝑩𝑲| = |s𝑰 − 𝑨 ̃ | = (𝑠 − 𝜇1 )(𝑠 − 𝜇2 ). . . . (𝑠 − 𝜇𝑛 )

= 𝑠 𝑛 + 𝛼1 𝑠 𝑛−1 + . . . + 𝛼𝑛−1 𝑠 + 𝛼𝑛 = 0
̃ satisfies its own characteristic equation,
Since the Cayley-Hamilton theorem states that 𝑨
we have

̃) = 𝑨
∅(𝑨 ̃ 𝒏 + 𝛼1 𝑨
̃ 𝑛−1 + . . . + 𝛼𝑛−1 𝑨
̃ + 𝛼𝑛 𝑰 = 0 (4.1.2)

We shall utilize Equation (2) to derive Ackermann’s formula. To simplify the derivation,
we consider the case where n = 3. (For any other positive integer n, the following
derivation can be easily extended.)
Consider the following identities:
𝑰 = 𝑰
̃ = 𝑨 − 𝑩𝑲
𝑨
̃ 𝟐 = (𝑨 − 𝑩𝑲)𝟐 = 𝐀𝟐 − 𝑨𝑩𝑲 − 𝑩𝑲𝑨
𝑨 ̃
̃ 𝟑 = (𝑨 − 𝑩𝑲)𝟑 = 𝑨𝟑 − 𝑨𝟐 𝑩𝑲 − 𝑨𝑩𝑲𝑨
𝑨 ̃ − 𝑩𝑲𝑨 ̃𝟐

Multiplying the preceding equations in order by 𝛼3 , 𝛼2 , 𝛼1 , 𝛼0 (where 𝛼0 = 1),

respectively, and adding the results, we obtain
̃ + 𝛼1 𝑨
𝛼3 𝑰 + 𝛼2 𝑨 ̃2 + 𝑨
̃3
̃ ) + 𝑨𝟑 − 𝑨𝟐 𝑩𝑲 − 𝑨𝑩𝑲𝑨
= 𝛼3 𝑰 + 𝛼2 ( 𝑨 − 𝑩𝑲) + 𝛼1 ( 𝑨𝟐 − 𝑨𝑩𝑲 − 𝑩𝑲𝑨 ̃ − 𝑩𝑲𝑨
̃𝟐
̃ − 𝑨𝟐 𝑩𝑲
= 𝛼3 𝑰 + 𝛼2 𝑨 + 𝛼1 𝑨2 + 𝑨3 − 𝛼2 𝐁𝐊 − 𝛼1 𝑨𝑩𝑲 − 𝛼1 𝑩𝑲𝑨 (4.1.3)
̃ − 𝑩𝑲𝑨
− 𝑨𝑩𝑲𝑨 ̃𝟐
Referring to Equation (3), we have
̃ + 𝛼1 𝑨
𝛼3 𝑰 + 𝛼2 𝑨 ̃2 + 𝑨
̃ 3 = ∅(𝑨
̃) = 0
Also, we have
𝛼3 𝑰 + 𝛼2 𝐀 + 𝛼1 𝐀2 + 𝑨3 = ∅(𝑨) ≠ 0
Substituting the last two equations into Equation (3), we have
̃ ) = ∅(𝑨) − 𝛼2 𝑩𝑲 − 𝛼1 𝑩𝑲𝑨
∅(𝑨 ̃ − 𝑩𝑲𝑨 ̃ 𝟐 − 𝛼1 𝑨𝑩𝑲 − 𝑨𝑩𝑲𝑨 ̃ − 𝑨𝟐 𝑩𝑲
̃ )= 0, we obtain
Since ∅(𝑨
̃ + 𝑲𝑨
∅(𝑨) = 𝑩(𝛼2 𝑲 + 𝛼1 𝑲𝑨 ̃ 2 ) + 𝑨𝑩(𝛼1 𝑲 + 𝑲𝑨̃ ) + 𝑨𝟐 𝑩𝑲

̃ + 𝑲𝑨
𝛼2 𝑲 + 𝛼1 𝑲𝑨 ̃𝟐
= [𝐁 (4.1.4)
𝑨𝑩 𝑨2 𝑩] [ ̃
𝛼1 𝑲 + 𝑲𝑨 ]
𝑲
Since the system is completely state controllable, the inverse of the controllability matrix
[𝑩 𝑨𝑩 𝑨𝟐 𝑩]
exists. Premultiplying both sides of Equation (4) by the inverse of the controllability
matrix, we obtain
𝛼2 𝑲 + 𝛼1 𝑲𝑨 ̃ + 𝑲𝑨 ̃𝟐
[𝑩 𝑨𝑩 𝑨𝟐 𝑩]−1 ∅(𝑨) = [ 𝛼1 𝑲 + 𝑲𝑨 ̃ ]
𝑲

Premultiplying both sides of this last equation by [0 0 1], we obtain

𝛼2 𝑲 + 𝛼1 𝑲𝑨̃ + 𝑲𝑨
̃𝟐
[0 −1
0 1][𝑩 𝑨𝑩 𝑨𝟐 𝑩] ∅(𝑨) = [0 0 1] [ 𝛼1 𝑲 + 𝑲𝑨 ̃ ]=𝑲
𝑲
which can be rewritten as
𝑲 = [0 0 1][𝑩 𝑨𝑩 𝑨𝟐 𝑩]−1 ∅(𝑨)
This last equation gives the required state feedback gain matrix K.
For an arbitrary positive integer n, we have

𝑲 = [0 𝑨𝑩 . . . 𝐀𝑛−1 𝑩]−1 ∅(𝑨) (4.1.5)

0 ... 1][𝑩

Equation (5) is known as Ackermann’s formula for the determination of the state
feedback gain matrix K.