Process Control: A First Course with MATLAB

The response of a stable system at large times is characterized by its amplitude and phase shift when the input is a sinusoidal wave. These two quantities can be obtained from the transfer function, of course, without inverse transform. The analysis of this frequency response can be based on a simple substitution (mapping) s = j ?, and the information is given by the magnitude (modulus) and the phase angle (argument) of the transfer function. Because the analysis begins with a Laplace transform, we are still limited to linear or linearized models.
Theoretically, we are making the presumption that we can study and understand the dynamic behavior of a process or system by imposing a sinusoidal input and measuring the frequency response. With chemical systems that cannot be subject to frequency-response experiments easily, it is very difficult for a beginner to appreciate what we will go through. So until then, take frequency response as a math problem.
Both the magnitude and the argument are functions of the frequency. The so-called Bode and Nyquist plots are nothing but graphical representations of this functional dependence.
Frequency-response analysis allows us to derive a general relative stability criterion that can easily handle systems with time delay. This property is used in controller design.
Our analysis is based on the mathematical property that, given a stable process (or system) and a sinusoidal input, the response will eventually become a purely...