Bode Diagrams - Tutorial and Exercise

Contents
1 Bode plots

2 Frequency domain performance criteria

3 Gain and Phases Margin

4 Example 1

5 Example 2

6 Exercise

A Appendix - Matlab Code

Bode plots

A method for obtaining and presenting system frequency response data which
is particularly useful where the transfer function is available in factorized form
is the Bode plot. This consists of two plots normally drawn on semi-logarithmic
graph paper: a magnitude plot, log log |G(j)|, and a phase plot, G(j), both
on a linear scale, against frequency plotted on a logarithmic scale. magnitude
is most commonly plotted in decibels i.e. 20 log10 |G(j)|.
One reason for this choice of graph is that, since the magnitude is plotted
in logarithmic form, the overall magnitude and phase information can both be
obtained from the component parts by graphical addition. A sec important
advantage of such a plot is that certain approximations using straight line constructions can be quickly drawn and often suffice for accuracy.
It can be shown that any transfer function can be factorized into the form
G(s) =

K(s z1 )(z2 ) (s zm )
.
(s p1 )(s p2 ) (s pn )

(1)

The zeros z1 , z2 , , zm and the poles p1 , p2 , , pn will each be either zero,

real, or complex, and thus in general G(s) can be considered to be composed

entirely of terms of the four following types appearing on the numerator or the
denominator:
s2 + 2n s + n2
K, s, 1 + s,
.
(2)
n2
Hence G(j) is composed of multiples or quotients of terms of the form
K, j, 1 + j ,

n2 2 + j2n
.
n2

(3)

Now the Bode plots for these types of component term, can be added to
produce a plot for a known transfer function.

Frequency domain performance criteria

Consider the case where the system in question is a positional control, a measuring system, or other system where the output is intended to be equal to the
input, or directly proportional to it. Ideally, the overall magnitude which in
such cases is generally referred to as the magnification would be specified to be
unity (or a constant) for all frequencies from zero to the maximum frequency
component of interest in the input signal, and zero for higher frequencies which
can be thought of as unwanted noise. Ideally also there should be no phase
shift for the frequencies of interest. The input signal of interest would then be
handled in an undistorted way and any noise at higher frequencies would be
filtered out.
Such an ideal characteristic cannot be achieved in practice, but the form of
curve which is typical is shown in Fig. 1 where the overall magnification M has
been normalized to unity for low frequencies. It can be seen that there is no
sharp cut-off.
The response characteristics are often described by the following parameters:
(a) bandwidth-defined as the frequency beyond which the magnification drops
more than 3 dB from the low frequency value; i.e. below 0.707 for the unity
gain system. All frequency components of interest should lie within the
bandwidth.
(b) peak magnification Mp , the height of the peak, which should ideally be
in the range 1.1 to 1.5 for good transient behaviour. For an overdamped
system there will be no peak.
(c) p , the frequency at which the peak magnification occurs. In the case of
an underdamped second order system this is close to the undamped natural
frequency.

Gain and Phases Margin

The gain margin is the reciprocal of the magnitude |G(j)| at the frequency at
which the phase angle is 180 . Defining the phase crossover frequency 1 , to
2

Figure 1: Typical frequency response characteristics for unity gain systems

be the frequency at which the phase angle of the open-loop transfer function
equals 180 gives the gain margin
Kg =

1
= 20 log Kg = 20 log |G(j1 )|.
|G(j1 )|

(4)

The gain margin expressed in decibels is positive if Kg is greater than unity

and negative if Kg is smaller than unity. Thus, a positive gain margin (in decibels) means that the system is stable, and a negative gain margin (in decibels)
means that the system is unstable.
For a stable minimum-phase system, the gain margin indicates how much
the gain can be increased before the system becomes unstable. For an unstable
system, the gain margin is indicative of how much the gain must be decreased
to make the system stable.
The phase margin is that amount of additional phase lag at the gain crossover
frequency required to bring the system to the verge of instability. The gain
crossover frequency is the frequency at which |G(j)|, the magnitude of the
open-loop transfer function, is unity. The phase margin is 180 plus the phase
angle of the open-loop transfer function at the gain crossover frequency, or
= 180 + .

(5)

Figure 2: Phase and gain margins of stable and unstable systems

Example 1

Using straight line approximations draw a Bode diagram for a system with
transfer function
10
.
(6)
G(s) =
s(1 + 0.5s)(1 + 0.1s)
This transfer function can be seen to be made up of 4 constituent components:
(a) a constant gain term of 10
(b) an integrating term 1/s
(c) a simple lag of time constant 0.5 sec
(d) a simple lag of time constant 0.1 sec.
Using straight line approximations the contributions of these terms to the
overall magnitude are respectively:
(a) a constant of 20 log10 10 = 20 dB for all frequencies
(b) a line of slope 20 dB/decade, passing through 0 dB at the frequency
1 rad/sec
(c) a magnitude of 0 dB up to a break point at 1/0.5 = 2 rad/sec, and thereafter
a line of slope 20 dB/decade
(d) a magnitude of 0 dB up to a break point at 1/0.1 = 10 rad/sec, and
thereafter a line of slope 20 dB/decade.
These magnitude contributions are shown in Fig. 3 together with the overall
magnitude curve which results from summing them. The overall curve is in error
particularly in the region of the break points. The true curves for (c) and (d)
4

and hence for the overall curve can be drawn in with sufficient accuracy for most
purposes by interpolating by eye, using the guide points of error being 3 dB at
the corner frequency, 1 dB at 1 octave, 0.3 dB at 1 decade. It can be seen
that the result is a rounding of the corners.

Figure 3: Bode plot for transfer function G(s) =

10
s(1+0.5s)(1+0.1s)

The contributions of these four components to the overall phase are respectively:
(a) no effect
(b) a constant phase lag of 900 for all frequencies
(c) zero lag to = 0.2 rad/sec, 90 lag for > 20 rad/sec, and a linear
variation between, with a lag of 45 at = 2 rad/sec, the corner frequency
(d) a similar curve to (c), but centred about = 10 rad/sec.
The true curves for phase vary from these straight line approximations by a
maximum of 5.5 , as described earlier in this section, and they can be drawn in
by eye very easily.

Example 2

Draw a Bode diagram for the transfer function

G(s) =

5
.
(1 + 2s)(s2 + 3s + 25)

(7)

This transfer function is made up of three components for which the Bode
plots can readily be drawn:
(a) a constant gain term of 5/25 = 0.2, this contributes a constant magnitude
of 20 log10 0.2 = 14 dB at all frequencies, and has no effect on phase
(b) a simple lag of time constant 2sec, centred on a break point at 0.5 rad/sec

(c) a quadratic lag with n = 25 = 5 and = 3/(2n ) = 0.3. the straight

line approximation is 0 dB to the corner frequency 5 rad/sec, and falling
at 40 dB per decade beyond this. With a value of = 0.3 the true curve
peaks very close to 5 rad/sec. The phase curve passes steeply through 90
at = n = 5 rad/sec.
The overall magnitude and phase can now be obtained by addition, Fig. 4.
It should be noted that the effect of the quadratic lag is felt at high frequencies
where the amplitude has already been markedly attenuated by the simple lag.

Figure 4: Bode plot for transfer function G(s) =

5
(1+2s)(s2 +3s+25)

Exercise

Consider the open-loop frequency transfer function

G(j)H((j) =

j + 1
.
j(j + 2)[(j)2 + 2j + 2]

(8)

Perform the following experiments. Put you answers in the Answer Sheet and
submit to the tutor during the laboratory class.
1. Draw Bode plots, straight line approximations of magnitude and phase,
for the given function, and calculate the exact values at corner or break
frequencies.
2. Verify your results using Matlab commands, see the appendix. Determine the gain margin, phase margin, crossover frequencies; and frequency
domain performance criteria.
3. Comment on the stability of the control system based on the gain and
phase margin.
4. Replace the numerical values for variables d1, d2, d3 by your student
ID number digits, discuss the characteristics of the control system based
on its bode plots and identify the stability conditions.

Appendix - Matlab Code

num=[1 1];
d1=[1 0];
d2=[1 2];
d3=[1 2 2];
den=conv(d1,d2);
den=conv(den,d3);
bode(num,den); grid on;
[Gm,Pm,wcg,wcp]=margin(num,den)
In the code segment, num, den, d1, d2, d3 are variables. num and den
are the numerator and denominator of G(j) in terms of the j-variable power
raised. The commands are:
C=CONV(A,B) convolution and polynomial multiplication. If A and B are
vectors of polynomial coefficients, convolving them is equivalent to multiplying
the two polynomials.
BODE(num,den draws the Bode plot of the linear time invariant (LTI) model.
The frequency range and number of points are chosen automatically.
[Gm,Pm,Wcg,Wcp]=MARGIN(num,den) computes the gain margin Gm, the phase
margin Pm, and the associated frequencies Wcg and Wcp. The gain margin Gm is
defined as 1/G where G is the gain at the -180 phase crossing. The phase margin
Pm is in degrees.
7