EE312/ lecture no.

8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

University of Benghazi
Faculty of Engineering
Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department
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Control systems EE312 Fall 2011/2012
Course Format and Assessment
The course will be delivered in 56 hours, with 4 home works. Final exam will be in Feb 2012.
Course material will include handouts.
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Instructor:
Dr. Awad Shamekh
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Lecture no. (8) Date: 15/1/2012

Learning Outcomes of this lecture

Students will understand:
• The definition of the frequency response technique.
• The use Bode plot in control systems.
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References:
- Modern control systems, R.C. Dorf
- Control systems Engineering, Norman Nise
- Linear control systems engineering, Morris Driels
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The frequency response technique:

The frequency response of a system is defined as the steady state response of the
system to a sinusoidal input signal. The sinusoid is a unique input signal, and the
resulting output for a linear system, as well as signals throughout the system, is
sinusoidal in the steady state. It differs from the input waveform only in the amplitude
and phase angle. One advantage of the frequency response method is the ready
availability of sinusoid test signals for various ranges of frequencies and amplitudes.
Thus the experimental determination of the frequency response of a system is easily
accomplished and is the most reliable and uncomplicated method for the experimental
of a system.

Sinusoid can be represented as a complex numbers called phasors. The magnitude of

the complex number is the amplitude of the sinusoid and the angle is the phase angle
of the sinusoid. Thus, M 1 cos(ωt + φ1 ) can be represented as M∠φ1 where the
frequency, ω , is implicit. Since a system causes both the amplitude and phase angle
of the input to be changed, therefore it is possible to think that the system itself can be
represented by a complex number, defined so that the product of the input phasor and
the system function yields the phasor representation of the output.

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

Consider the mechanical system shown in Figure (1). If the input force, f (t ) is a
sinusoidal, the steady state output response, x(t ) , of the system is also sinusoidal and
at the same frequency as the input.

Figure (1)

In Figure (2) the input and output sinusoids are represented by complex numbers, or
phasors, M i (ω )∠φi (ω ) and M o (ω )∠φ o (ω ) respectively. Here the M 's are the
amplitudes of the sinusoids and the φ ' s are the phase angles of the sinusoids.

Figure (2)

Figure (3) shows the graphical representation of the phasors. Assume that the system
is represented by complex number M (ω )∠φ (ω ) . The output steady state sinusoid is
found by multiplying the complex number representation of the input by complex
number representation of the system. Thus, the steady state output sinusoid is:

M o (ω )∠φo (ω ) = M i (ω ) M (ω )∠φi (ω ) + φ (ω ) (1)

Figure (3)
From equation (1) one can observe that the system function is given by :

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

M o (ω )
M (ω ) = (2)
M i (ω )
and
φ (ω ) = φo (ω ) − φi (ω ) (3)
Equations (2) and (3) form the definition of the frequency response. M (ω ) defines
the magnitude frequency response and ∠φ (ω ) represents the phase frequency
response. The combination of magnitude and phase frequency responses is called the
frequency response.

Plotting frequency response

G ( jω ) = M (ω )∠φ (ω ) can be plotted in several ways; two of them are (1) as a

function of frequency , with separate magnitude and phase plots, or (2) as polar plot,
where the phasor length is the magnitude and the phasor angle is the phase. When
plotting separate magnitude and phase plots, the magnitude curve can be plotted in
decibels (dB) versus (vs.) log ω, where dB = 20 log M . Where log is used to mean
log10 or logarithm to the base 10. The phase curve is plotted as phase angle vs. log ω.

Example:
Find the analytical expression for the magnitude and phase frequency response for a
1
system G ( jω ) = also plot both the separate magnitude and phase diagram.
s+2
Solution
First, substitute s = jω in the system function. This should give
1 − jω + 2 2 − jω
G ( jω ) = × = . The magnitude of this complex number
jω + 2 − jω + 2 ω 2 + 4
1
G ( jω ) = M = is the magnitude frequency response. The phase angle of
ω2 + 4
ω
G ( jω ) , φ (ω ) = − tan −1 ( ) is the phase frequency response. In separate magnitude
2
and phase diagrams, the magnitude diagram is plotted base on:

⎛ 1 ⎞
20 log M = 20 log⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ vs. log ω.
⎝ ω +4⎠
2

and the phase diagram is:

ω
φ (ω ) = − tan −1 ( ) vs. log ω.
2
Figures (4) and (5) show the magnitude and phase of the considered system
respectively.

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

Figure (4)

Figure (5)

Asymptotic approximations: Bode plots

The log magnitude and phase frequency response curves as functions of log ω are
called Bode plot diagrams. Sketching Bode plots can be simplified because they can
be approximated as a sequence of straight lines. Straight line approximations simplify
the evaluation of the magnitude and phase frequency response. Consider the following
transfer function:

K ( s + z1 )( s + z 2 ).....( s + z k )
G ( jω ) = (4)
s m ( s + p1 )( s + p 2 ).....( s + p n )

The magnitude frequency response is the product of the magnitude frequency

response of each term, or

K ( s + z1 ) ( s + z 2 ) ..... ( s + z k )
G ( j ω ) s → jω = (5)
s m ( s + p1 ) ( s + p 2 ) ..... ( s + p n )

Thus if we know the magnitude response of each pole and zero term, it is possible to
find the total magnitude response. The process can be simplified by working with
logarithm of the magnitude since the zero terms magnitude response would be added
and the poles terms magnitude response subtracted, rather than respectively multiplied
or divided, to yield the logarithm of the total magnitude response. Converting the
magnitude into dB, then we obtain:

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

20 log G ( jω ) s → jω = 20 log K + 20 log ( s + z1 ) + 20 log ( s + z 2 ) ....

− 20log ( s + p1 ) − −20log ( s + p 2 ) .......

Thus, if we know the response of each term, the algebraic sum would yield the total
response in dB. Further, if we could make an approximation of each term that consist
only of straight lines, graphic addition of terms would be greatly simplified. From
equation (4),the phase frequency response is the sum of the phase frequency curves of
the zero terms minus the sum of the phase frequency curves of the pole terms. Again,
since the phase response is the sum of individual response simplified graphic addition.

Bode plot for G ( s) = ( s + a) (simple zero)

Let s = jω then
jω
G ( jω ) = ( jω + a ) = a ( + 1) (6)
a
At low frequencies, when ω approaches zero

G ( jω ) ≅ a
The magnitude response in dB is

20 log M = 20 log a
where

M = G ( jω ) and a is a constant.
At high frequencies, where ω >> a , equation (6) becomes

jω ω
G ( jω ) ≅ a ( ) = a ( )∠90 o = ω∠90 o
a a
The magnitude response in dB is

ω
20 log M = 20 log a + 20 log = 20 log ω (7)
a
If we plot dB, 20logM, against log ω, equation (7) becomes a straight line as y = 20 x
where y = 20 log M , and x = log ω . The line has a slope of 20 when plotted as dB
vs. log ω . Since each doubling of frequency cause 20 log ω to increase by 6dB, the
line rises at an equivalent slope of 6dB/octave, where an octave is a doubling of
frequency.

The straight line approximation are called asymptotes. The low frequency
approximation is called the low frequency asymptote, and the high frequency
approximation is called high frequency asymptote. The frequency, a , is called the
break frequency (it also called corner frequency) because it is the break between the
low and the high frequency asymptotes.

It is more convenient to draw the line over the decade rather than an octave, where a
decade is 10 times the initial frequency. Over one decade, 20 log ω increase by 20dB.

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

Thus the slope of 6dB/octave is equivalent to a slope of 20dB/decade. Figure (6)

illustrates the magnitude Bode plot of the simple zero given in equation (6).

Figure (6)

To plot the phase response, recall equation (6) which shows that the break frequency,
a , the phase 45o .At ω = a :
ja
G ( jω ) ω = a = ( ja + a ) = a ( + 1) = ( ja + a )
a
a
∠G ( jω ) = tan −1 ( ) = tan −1 1 = 45 o #
a
At low frequencies G ( jω ) ≅ a , then ∠G ( jω ) = 0 o . At high frequencies,
G ( jω ) ≅ jω , then ∠G ( jω ) = 90 o . To draw the curve, start one decade (1/10)
below the break frequency, 0.1a , with 0o phase, and draw a line of slope + 45o
/decade passing through 45o at the break frequency and continuing to 90 o one
decade above the break frequency, 10a as shown in Figure (7).

Figure (7)
It is often convenient to normalize the magnitude and scale the frequency so that the
log magnitude plot will be 0 dB at the break frequency of unity. To normalize ( s + a)
⎡s ⎤
, factor out the quantity a and form a ⎢ +1⎥ . The frequency is scaled by defining a
⎣a ⎦

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

new frequency variable, s1 = s / a , then the magnitude is divided by a to yield 0dB

at break frequency. Figures (8) & (9) show the difference between the actual and
asymptotic normalized and scaled responses magnitude and phase respectively of
G ( s) = ( s + a) , where the difference between the actual and the asymptotic plots is
not greater than 3.01 dB and this occurs at the corner frequency.

Frequency/ a (rad/s)

Figure (8)

Frequency/ a (rad/s)

Figure (9)

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

1
Bode plot for G( s) = (simple pole)
( s + a)
To find the Bode plot for the transfer function of

1 1
G(s) = = (8)
( s + a) s
a ( + 1)
a
This function has a low frequency asymptote of 20log 1 / a which is found by letting
the frequency, s , approaches zero. The Bode plot is constant until the break
frequency, a rad/s, is reached. The plot is approximated by the high frequency
asymptote found by letting s approaches ∞. Thus at high frequency or frequencies:

1 1 1/ a 1
G ( jω ) ≈ ≈ ≈ ∠ − 90o ≈ ∠ − 90o
s jω ω/a ω
a ( + 1) a( )
a s → jω a
Or in dB
1 ω
20 log M = 20 log − 20 log = −20 log ω
a a
At ω = a the low frequency approximation equals the high frequency approximation
decreases for ω > a . This shows the fact that the slope is negative rather than positive
as in the simple zero case. Then Bode log-magnitude diagram will decreases at rate of
20dB/decade rather than increase at a rate of 20dB/decade after break frequency.

The phase plot is the negative of the previous example since the function is the
inverse. The phase begins at 0o and reaches − 90 o at high frequencies going through
− 45o at the break frequency. Both the Bode plot (normalized & scaled) log
magnitude and phase are shown in Figure (10.d), meanwhile figure (10.c)
demonstrates the log-magnitude and phase of G ( s ) = ( s + a) .

Bode plot for G ( s) = s (zero at the origin)

G ( s) = s , has only a high frequency asymptotes. Let s = jω , the magnitude is
20 logω . Hence the Bode magnitude is + 20 logω , which denotes a straight line
drawn with + a 20dB/ decade slope passing through zero when ω = 1 . The phase
plot, which is a constant + 90 , is shown with magnitude plot in Figure (10.a).
o

1
Bode plot for G ( s) = (pole at the origin)
s
1
The frequency response of the inverse of the preceding function, G ( s ) = , is
s
shown in Figure (10.b) and is a straight line with a – 20 dB/decade slope passing
through zero dB at ω = 1 . The Bode phase plot is equal to a constant − 90 o .

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

Figure (10)

Example:

Draw the Bode plots for the system shown in Figure (11) , where:

K ( s + 3)
G(s) =
s( s + 1)(s + 2)

Figure (11)

Solution
1) Normalize the open loop transfer function as:

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

⎛3⎞ ⎛ K ( s / 3 + 3 / 3) ⎞ ⎛ 3 ⎞ ⎛ K ( s / 3 + 1) ⎞
G(s) = ⎜ ⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = ⎜ ⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝2⎠ ⎝ s ( s + 1)( s / 2 + 2 / 2) ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎝ s ( s + 1)( s / 2 + 1) ⎠

2) Determine the break (corner) frequencies as at:

• There is a zero at -3;
• there is a pole at the origin ( this must be included with gain);
• there is a pole at -1;
• there is a pole at -2.
3) To plot the log-magnitude, the diagram should start at least a decade below the
lowest break frequency and extend to a decade above the highest break
frequency. Hence, 0.1 to 30 radians ( however it is better to choose 100
radians as it will be illustrated later).
4) Determine the value of the transfer function at low frequency as it will be
approximated by the gain and pole/or zero at the origin.

At low frequency s → 0 or ω = 0.1

⎛3⎞⎛ K ⎞
G ( s ) s → jω = G ( jω ) ≈ ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟ = 15 K . The effect of the K is to move the
⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎝ 0 .1 ⎠
magnitude curve up (increasing K) or down (decreasing K) by an amount 20logK. In
this example choose K=1, then the Bode plot starts at ω = 0.1 with a value of
20log15=23.52 dB and decreases immediately (due to the pole at the origin) at rate of
-20dB/decade. At ω = 1 (which denotes a break frequency, pole at -1) an additional
-20dB downwards slope that means the total slope will be -40dB/decade. At ω = 2
another pole will affect the system this causes the slop to become -60dB/decade, this
should continues until the next corner frequency ( the zero at -3) ω = 3 . This term
should add +20 dB/decade to the last slope. Then the resultant magnitude slope
therefore changes to become -40db/decade and continues at the same slope since there
is no other corner frequencies. The magnitude plot for this example is shown in
Figure (12). For sake of simplicity Table (1) is organized for the magnitude plot:

K ( s + 3)
Table (1), Bode magnitude plot of G ( s ) =
s( s + 1)(s + 2)

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

Figure (12)

Phase plot is similarly handled as displayed in Table (2). However since there is a
pole at the origin, which yields a constant − 90 o , the plot begins at − 90 o and follows
slope contributions of the corner frequencies as illustrated in Figure (13):

K ( s + 3)
Table(2), Bode phase plot of G ( s ) =
s( s + 1)(s + 2)

Figure (13)

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

Bode plot for G ( s ) = s 2 + 2ζω n s + ω n 2 (quadratic zeros)

The second order system polynomial is of the form

G ( s) = s 2 + 2ζω n s + ω n =
2

⎛ s 2 2ζω n s ω n 2 ⎞ 2⎛ s
2
2ζω n s ⎞ (9)
⎜
ωn ⎜ 2 +
2
+ ⎟
2 ⎟
= ω ⎜ + + 1⎟⎟
ω ω
2
ω
n ⎜ω 2 ω
⎝ n n n ⎠ ⎝ n n ⎠

Unlike the first order system frequency response approximation, the difference
between the asymptotic approximation and the actual frequency response can be great
for some values of ζ . In such situations, a correction to the Bode diagrams can be
made to improve the accuracy. However, the correction is not is not considered in this
course.

At low frequencies equation (9) becomes:

G ( s ) ≈ ω n = ω n ∠0 o
2 2
(10)

The magnitude, M, in dB at low frequencies therefore is

20 log M = 20 log G ( jω ) = 20 log ω n2 (11)

At high frequencies equation (9) becomes:

G ( s ) ≈ s 2 = −ω 2 = ω 2 ∠180 o
The log-magnitude is

20 log M = 20 log G ( jω ) == 20 log ω 2 = 40 log ω (12)

Equation (12) is a straight line with twice the slope of the simple zero that represented
by equation (7). Its slope is 12dB/octave, or 40 dB/decade. The low frequency
asymptote (equation 11) and high frequency asymptote (equation 12) are equal at
ω = ω n . Thus, ωn is the break frequency for the second order polynomial. Similar to
the first order systems, the 2nd order system should be normalized and scaled with
respect to ωn (natural frequency) as:
2ζω n s ω
2
G(s) s2
= + + n 2 = s12 + 2ζs1 + 1 (13)
ωn ωn ωn ωn
2 2 2

The phase plot of this function can be summarized in three points;1) at low
frequencies the function has 0 as shown in equation (10); 2) at high frequencies the
o

function has 180o ; 3) at corner frequency, where ω = ω n , the function is equivalent

to

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

G ( s ) s → jω = s 2 + 2ζω n s + ω n
2

G ( jω ) = ( jω ) 2 + 2ζω n ( jω ) + ω n
2

Hence ω = ω n at corner frequency then

G ( jω ) = (ω n − ω 2 ) + j 2ζω nω
2

Then the phase at the natural frequency is 90 o . Figure (14) denotes the Bode plot of
G ( s ) = s 2 + 2ζω n s + ω n , where as Figure (15) displays the phase plot.
2

Figure (14)

Figure (15)

1
Bode plot for G ( s ) = (quadratic poles)
s + 2ζω n s + ω n
2 2

Similarly to the G ( s ) = s 2 + 2ζω n s + ω n except that the slope is - 40 dB/decade and

2

breaks at natural frequency ω = ω n . The phase plot is 0 o at low frequency. At 0.1 ω n

it gins a decrease of − 90 o /decade and continues until ω = 10ω n where it levels off at
− 180o .

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

Example
Draw the Bode plot log magnitude and phase plots of G(s) for the unity feedback
shown in Figure :

Figure (16)
if
( s + 3)
G(s)
( s + 2)( s 2 + 2 s + 25)

Solution
Normalize and scale G(s) as:

s s
( + 1) ( + 1)
3 3 3 3
G (s) = 2
=
( 2)(25) s s 2 (50) s s2 2
( + 1)( + s + 1) ( + 1)( + s + 1)
2 25 25 2 25 25

Corner frequencies are zero at -3, pole at -2 quadratic poles at ω n = 5 . At low

3
frequency ( s → 0 ) the gain of is the effective term that equals -24.44dB. The
(50)
magnitude table then can be established as in Table (3):

( s + 3)
Table (3), magnitude diagram slopes of G ( s )
( s + 2)( s 2 + 2 s + 25)

The phase diagram slopes of this example are shown in Table (4) as:

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 EE312/ lecture no. 8 /Frequency Response technique / Bode Plot

( s + 3)
Table (4), phase diagram slopes of G ( s )
( s + 2)( s 2 + 2 s + 25)

Figures (17) & (18) show the magnitude and phase plots of this example respectively.

Figure (17)

Figure (18)

15