The Nyquist Stability Criterion is a graphical method used in control theory to assess the stability of a linear time-invariant (LTI) system based on its open-loop frequency response. This criterion involves plotting the Nyquist plot, which is a parametric plot of the complex function over a range of frequencies . The key idea is to count the number of encirclements of the point in the complex plane, which is related to the number of poles of the closed-loop transfer function that are in the right half of the complex plane.
The criterion states that if the number of counterclockwise encirclements of (denoted as ) is equal to the number of poles of the open-loop transfer function in the right half-plane (denoted as ), the closed-loop system is stable. Mathematically, this relationship can be expressed as:
In summary, the Nyquist Stability Criterion provides a powerful tool for engineers to determine the stability of feedback systems without needing to derive the characteristic equation explicitly.
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