Robust stability for time-delay systems: the edge theorem and graphical tests

The robust stability problem is discussed for a class of uncertain delay systems where the characteristic equations involve a polytope P of quasi-polynomials (i.e. polynomials in one complex variable and exponential powers of the variable). Given a set D in the complex plane, the goal is to find a constructive technique to verify whether all roots of every quasi-polynomial in P belong to D (that is, to verify the D-stability of P). First it is demonstrated by counterexample that Kharitonov´s theorem does not hold for general delay systems. Next it is shown that under a mild assumption on the set D a polytope of quasi-polynomials is D-stable if and only if the edges of the polytope are D-stable. This extends the edge theorem for the D-stability of a polytope of polynomials. The third result gives a constructive graphical test for checking the D-stability of a polytope of quasi-polynomials which is especially simple when the set D is the open left-half plane. An application is given to demonstrate the power of the results