Rejection Restriction in RC

Unfortunately, the direct implementation of this memory loop is often unstable. Using small gain
theorem, it has been proved that for strictly proper plants it is impossible to construct a repetitive
controller that exponentially stabilizes the system. The theorem shows the impossibility of
achieving the asymptotic rejection of general periodic inputs. This occurs because the stability
condition previously shown is highly restrictive. This restriction comes from the apparently
unrealistic over-specification of tracking high frequency signals. Various modifications of the
scheme were proposed to improve the situation. These typically amount to relaxation of the
requirement for the asymptotic rejection of higher harmonics i.e. reducing the loop gain of the
repetitive compensator for high frequencies range. One way to handle this is to introduce a low-
pass filter. Because this tradeoff relationship between stability and tracking is frequency
dependent, it is desirable and possible to take the filter in such a way that it is close to one in a low
frequency range where tracking is important and that it is less than one (preferably close to zero)
in the higher frequency range so as to improve on the stability condition [28]. This leads to the
idea of modified repetitive control in which the delay element is preceded by a suitable proper
function q(s) to deactivate the learning at high frequencies. The modified RC has decreased ability
to track signals in the high frequency band, but it has the advantage of wider applicability. In reality
this is not a drawback, as we do not need tracking in a very high frequency anyways.