Stability margin of uncertain control systems

Achieving stability is the essential issue in the control system design. In this paper, four approaches that can be used to calculate the stability margin of the interval plant family are summarized and compared. The μ approach gives the bounds of the stability margin, and good estimation can be obtained with the numerical method. The eigenvalue approach yields accurate value, and the MATLAB’s function robuststab sometimes provides wrong results. Since the eigenvalue approach is both accurate and computationally efficient, it is recommended for the calculation of the stability margin, while utilization of the function robuststab should be avoided due to the unreliable results it gives.