Computer Analysis of Linear Systems

Particularly in the field of control systems, a large amount of computation is required for analysis or synthesis of even very simple systems. Most all electrical engineers vividly remember the effort required for hand computation of the transient response of a third-or fourth-order system driven by some polynomial or trigonometric function. The advent of high-speed, low-cost computers with FORTRAN compilers promises relief for virtually all engineering undergraduates, if they desire it. A "one-time" effort is required to write a computer program, probably in FORTRAN, which will automatically compute the information required for linear system analysis or synthesis. Here, the computer computation of the time domain response of linear systems is discussed in some detail. The technique used is that of state space or state variable analysis. The concepts are not difficult and are quite appealing due to their generality.