Finite spectrum assignment of unstable time-delay systems with a safe implementation

The instability mechanisms, related to the implementation of distributed delay controllers in the context of finite spectrum assignment, were studied in detail in the past few years. In this note we introduce a distributed delay control law that assigns a finite closed-loop spectrum and whose implementation with a sum of point-wise delays is safe. This property is obtained by implicitly including a low-pass filter in the control loop. This leads to a closed-loop characteristic quasipolynomial of retarded type, and not one of neutral type, which was shown to be a cause of instability in previous schemes.