Transfer function A Transfer Function is the ratio of the output of a system to the input of a system, in the Laplace domain

considering its initial conditions and equilibrium point to be zero. If we have an input function of X(s), and an output function Y(s), we define the transfer function H(s) to be: [Transfer Function]

The transfer function can be the impedance, admittance, impedance ratio of a voltage divider or the admittance ratio of a current divider.

The transfer function is a convenient representation of a linear time invariant dynamical system. athematically the transfer function is a function of comple! variables. "or finite dimensional systems the transfer function is simply a rational function of a comple! variable. The transfer function can be obtained by inspection or by simple algebraic manipulations of the differential equations that describe the systems. Transfer functions can describe systems of very high order, even infinite dimensional systems governed by partial differential equations. The transfer function of a system can be determined from e!periments on a system. An input#output description of a system is essentially a table of all possible input#output pairs. "or linear systems the table can be characterized by one input pair only, for e!ample the impulse response or the step response. In this section we will consider another interesting pairs of signals. $ne of the most common transfer functions used in the modeling of dynamic systems is the simple first#order lag, usually depicted schematically as shown below.

The arrow conventionally signifies that y%t& is the dependent variable, driven by !%t&, which is regarded as an independent variable. The symbol 's( is effectively a differentiation operator, and we consider the transfer function as an operator that multiplies !%t& to yield the result y%t&. )e can e!press this formally as

$ften we multiply through by * + s to give

which represents the closed#form differential equation

"or any given forcing function !%t& we can solve this equation for y%t&. ,owever, we can -ust as well e!pand the operator in %*& using the geometric series, and write it in the form

If we substitute this infinite series for y into %.&, we can verify that it is consistent, assuming convergence, so equations %.& and %/& are compatible, but are they completely equivalent0 1onsider a simple e!ample with !%t& 2 A + 3t for some constants A and 3. If we substitute this for !%t& in equation %.& and solve the resulting differential equation we get the general solution

where 1 is an arbitrary constant of integration. $n the other hand, if we insert !%t& 2 A + 3t into equation %/& we get simply

Thus it might seem as if %.& is more general than %/&. In a sense we introduced the e!tra term 1et4 into the solution %5& when we multiplied through equation %*& by * + s, which equals zero when applied to the function 1et4. Another way of loo6ing at the difference is to note that if !%t& equals A + 3t for all time, and if y%t& has been related to !%t& by the sub-ect transfer function for all time, then indeed the only solution is %7&. In contrast, the appearance of !%t& on the left side of equation %.& -ust represents the instantaneous value of the function at the time t, which leaves y%t& with a degree of freedom. $ne could also argue that the term 1et4 is similar to a gauge freedom. 8ecall that any solution of the equations for the potential of an electromagnetic field can be augmented by functions of an arbitrary scalar field. 9imilarly the particular solution of %.& can be augmented by any multiple of the homogeneous solution. It:s interesting that equation %.& presents ! as a linear combination of y and its first derivative,

whereas equation %/& presents y as a linear combination of ! and all its derivatives. 9o these two equations represent two different interpretations of the causal structure. )e also note that, according to equation %7&, we have y%t& 2 !%t &, meaning that y is a delayed version of !. ,owever, this is true only for the case when ! is a linear ramp function %for all time&. If !%t& is some other function of time, the relationship between ! and y varies. ;ven for purely sinusoidal functions the amplitude and phase lag varies with frequency. Also, if we regard ! as an independent input, any change in ! has an instantaneous effect on y, albeit e!tremely attenuated. Thus a single first#order lag cannot represent an actual time delay such as is associated with propagation of a signal across a distance at a finite speed in accord with ,uygens: <rinciple. To more closely appro!imate a true time#delay transfer function, for a delay equal to , we could place two first#order lags in series, each with a time constant of 4., as shown below.

"or an infinite ramp input, the output would be delayed by t, -ust as for the single transfer function, but the 'early( response to a step change in !%t& would be significantly less, because it would have to elevate the output of the lag appreciably before it begins to elevate the output of the second lag. To ma6e the delay even more sharp, we could place three lags in series, each with time constant t4/, as shown below.

1ontinuing in this way, we can consider the limit of n lags in series, each with time constant 4n, and evaluate the result in the limit as n increases to infinity. ultiplying all the transfer functions together, the series of n lags can be depicted as

Algebraically we have the limiting relation

so we can represent this relationship between ! and y by the transfer function shown below.

)e claim that this gives y%t& 2 !%t = & for any input function !%t&. In other words, the output is an e!act replica of the input, but delayed in time by the amount . )e already 6now this is true if ! is a linear ramp, but what about a sinusoidal function0 )ritten e!plicitly, the direct relationship provided by this transfer function is

>ow suppose !%t& 2 Acos%t& for some constants A and . Inserting this into the above e!pression gives

?rouping the sine and cosine terms, this can be written in the form

This confirms that the operator es represents a pure time delay not only for ramp functions but also for sinusoidal functions. "urthermore, recalling that we can e!press any

arbitrary function as a "ourier series consisting of a sum of cosine functions of various amplitudes and frequencies, and that our differential equation is linear so solutions are additive, we see that the effect of this transfer function on any arbitrary input is to apply a pure time delay. The value of y at any time t is simply the value of ! at the earlier time t = . This might seem to suggest that no information about what is happening to ! at time t can be inferred from the value of y until the later time t + , consistent with usual notions of causality. ,owever, as discussed above, a transfer function does not contain an implicit directionality, it is simply a relationship between two variables, and can -ust as well be regarded as giving ! as a function of y, in which case we have !%t& 2 y%t + &. Thus at any time t, the variable ! has the value that y will have at the future time t + . This seems to conflict with our usual notions of causality, so it:s interesting to e!amine this point of view in detail.

Laplace Transform
The Laplace transform provides a useful method of solving certain types of differential equations when certain initial conditions are given, especially when the initial values are zero. The Laplace transform is also very useful in the area of circuit analysis. It is often easier to analyze the circuit in its Laplace form, than to form differential equations. The techniques of Laplace transform are not only used in circuit analysis, but also in

<roportional#Integral#@erivative %<I@& controllers @1 motor speed control systems @1 motor position control systems 9econd order systems of differential equations %underdamped, overdamped and critically damped&

The Laplace Transform of a Function The Laplace Transform of a function y%t& is defined by

if the integral e!ists. The notation LAy%t&B%s& means ta6e the Laplace transform of y%t&. The functions y%t& and C%s& are partner functions. >ote that C%s& is indeed only a function of s since the definite integral is with respect to t. Examples Let y%t&2e!p%t&. )e have

The integral converges if sD*. The functions e!p%t& and *4%s#*& are partner functions. Let y%t&2cos%/t&. )e have

The integral converges for sDE. The integral can be computed by doing integration by parts twice or by loo6ing in an integration table.

Existence of the Laplace Transform If y%t& is piecewise continuous for tD2E and of e!ponential order, then the Laplace Transform e!ists for some values of s. A function y%t& is of e!ponential order c if there is e!ist constants and T such that

All polynomials, simple e!ponentials %e!p%at&, where a is a constant&, sine and cosine functions, and products of these functions are of e!ponential order. An e!ample of a function not of e!ponential order is e!p%tF.&. This function grows too rapidly. The integral

does not converge for any value of s. Table of Laplace Transforms The following table lists the Laplace Transforms for a selection of functions

Rules for Computing Laplace Transforms of Functions There are several formulas and properties of the Laplace transform which can greatly simplify calculation of the Laplace transform of functions. The properties can be verified using the integral formula for the Laplace Transform and can be found in any te!tboo6. Linearity Li6e differentiation and integration the Laplace transformation is a linear operation. The Laplace transform of a constant times a function is the constant times the Laplace transform of the function. In addition the Laplace transform of a sum of functions is the sum of the Laplace transforms. Let us restate the above in mathspea6. Let CG*%s& and CG.%s& denote the Laplace transforms of yG*%t& and yG.%t&, respectively, and let cG* be a constant. 8ecall that LAf%t&B%s& denotes the Laplace transform of f%t&. )e have

As a corollary, we have the third formula:

,ere are several e!amples:

,ere we have used the results in the table for the Laplace transform of the e!ponential. ,ere are a couple of more e!amples:

Translation Property The translation formula states that C%s& is the Laplace transform of y%t&, then

where a is a constant. ,ere is an e!ample. The Laplace transform of the y%t&2t is C%s&2*4sF.. ,ence

Laplace Transform of the Derivative 9uppose that the Laplace transform of y%t& is C%s&. Then the Laplace Transform of yH%t& is

"or the second derivative we have

"or the nHth derivative we have

Derivatives of the Laplace Transform Let C%s& be the Laplace Transform of y%t&. Then

,ere is an e!ample. 9uppose we wish to compute the Laplace transform of tsin%t&. The Laplace transform of sin%t& is *4%sF.+*&. ,ence, we have