Calculating response to arbitrary input

ABROAD UNDERSTANDING of the dynamic aspects of feedback control requires an appreciation of the factors affecting the response to a general or arbitrary input. The important characteristics of the response to an input can be readily determined if the important characteristics of a small set of transient responses are given. Thus, a few transient-response parameters are sufficient to specify in a practical sense the general time response of any linear system. A knowledge of the manner in which these parameters relate to the general time response is very helpful for analyzing the dynamic system requirements for particular applications, because it shows what characteristics of a specific input are the cause of dynamic error and what the requirements on the transient response are for keeping this error within allowable bounds.