Rules for Making Bode Plots

Term Magnitude Phase

K>0: 0°
Constant: K 20·log10(|K|)
K<0: ±180°
Low freq. asymptote at 0°.
Real Pole: 1 Low freq. asymptote at 0 dB High freq. asymptote at
s High freq. asymptote at -20 dB/dec -90°.
1
0 Connect asymptotic lines at 0, Connect with straight line
from 0.1· 0 to 10· 0.
Low freq. asymptote at 0°.
Low freq. asymptote at 0 dB High freq. asymptote at
Real Zero*: s 1 High freq. asymptote at +20 dB/dec. +90°.
0
Connect asymptotic lines at 0. Connect with line from
0.1· 0 to 10· 0.
Pole at Origin: 1 -20 dB/dec; through 0 dB at =1. -90° for all .
s
Zero at Origin*: s +20 dB/dec; through 0 dB at =1. +90° for all .
Low freq. asymptote at 0 dB. Low freq. asymptote at 0°.
Underdamped Poles: High freq. asymptote at -40 dB/dec. High freq. asymptote at
-180°.
Connect asymptotic lines at 0.
Connect with straight line
1 Draw peak† at freq. r 0 1 2
2
from ‡
2 with amplitude 2
s s log10
2 1 H j 20 log10 2 1 2 2
0 0
r 0 to 0
2 2
log10

Draw low freq. asymptote at 0 dB. Low freq. asymptote at 0°.

Draw high freq. asymptote at +40 Draw high freq. asymptote
Underdamped Zeros*: dB/dec. at +180°.
Connect asymptotic lines at 0. Connect with a straight
2 Draw dip† at freq. 0 with line from ‡
s s r
1 2 2 2
2 1 log10
2
0 0 amplitude 0 to 0
2 2
log10
H j r 20 log10 2 1 2 .

Notes:
* Rules for drawing zeros create the mirror image (around 0 dB, or 0 ) of those for a pole with the same 0.
† For underdamped poles and zeros peak exists only for 0
1 and peak freq. is typically very near
0.707 0.
2
‡ For underdamped poles and zeros If <0.02 draw phase vertically from 0 to -180 degrees at 0
For nth order pole or zero make asymptotes, peaks and slopes n times higher than shown (i.e., second order asymptote
is -40 dB/dec, and phase goes from 0 to –180o). Don’t change frequencies, only plot values and slopes.

© Copyright 2005-2009 Erik Cheever This page may be freely used for educational purposes.
Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Corrections?
Erik Cheever Department of Engineering Swarthmore College
 Quick Reference for Making Bode Plots
If starting with a transfer function of the form (some of the coefficients bi, ai may be zero).
s n  b1s b0
H(s) C m
s  a1s a 0

Factor polynomial into real factors and complex conjugate pairs (p can be positive, negative, or zero; p is zero if a0 and b0 are both non-zero).

p
s z1 s z2  s2 2 z1 s
0z1
2
0z1 s2 2 z2 0z2s 2
0z2 
H(s) C s
s p1 s p2  s2 2 p1 s
0p1
2
0p1 s2 2 p2 0p2 s 2
0p2 

Put polynomial into standard form for Bode Plots.

2 2
s s s s s s
1 1 2 z1 1 2 z2 1
z1 z2  2
0z1
2
0z2  p z1 z2 0z1 0z1 0z2 0z2
H(s) C s
p2  
2 2 2 2
p1 0p1 0p2 s s s s s s
1 1 2 p1 1 2 p2 1
p1 p2 0p1 0p1 0p2 0p2

2 2
s s s s s s
1  2 z1 1 2 z2 1
z1 z2 0z1 0z1 0z2 0z2
K sp 2 2
s s s s s s
1 1 2 p1 1 2 p2 1
p1 p2 0p1 0p1 0p2 0p2

Take the terms (constant, real poles and zeros, origin poles and zeros, complex poles and zeros) one by one and plot magnitude and phase
according to rules on previous page. Add up resulting plots.

© Copyright 2005-2009 Erik Cheever This page may be freely used for educational purposes.
Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Corrections?
Erik Cheever Department of Engineering Swarthmore College
 Matlab Tools for Bode Plots
>> n=[1 11 10]; %A numerator polynomial (arbitrary)
>> d=[1 10 10000 0]; %Denominator polynomial (arbitrary)
>> sys=tf(n,d)
Transfer function:
s^2 + 11 s + 10
----------------------
s^3 + 10 s^2 + 10000 s

>> damp(d) %Find roots of den. If complex, show zeta, wn.

Eigenvalue Damping Freq. (rad/s)
0.00e+000 -1.00e+000 0.00e+000
-5.00e+000 + 9.99e+001i 5.00e-002 1.00e+002
-5.00e+000 - 9.99e+001i 5.00e-002 1.00e+002

>> damp(n) %Repeat for numerator

Eigenvalue Damping Freq. (rad/s)
-1.00e+000 1.00e+000 1.00e+000
-1.00e+001 1.00e+000 1.00e+001

>> %Use Matlab to find frequency response (hard way).

>> w=logspace(-2,4); %omega goes from 0.01 to 10000;
>> fr=freqresp(sys,w);
>> subplot(211); semilogx(w,20*log10(abs(fr(:)))); title('Mag response, dB')
>> subplot(212); semilogx(w,angle(fr(:))*180/pi); title('Phase resp, degrees')

>> %Let Matlab do all of the work

>> bode(sys)

>> %Find Freq Resp at one freq. %Hard way

>> fr=polyval(n,j*10)./polyval(d,j*10)
fr = 0.0011 + 0.0010i

>> %Find Freq Resp at one freq. %Easy way

>> fr=freqresp(sys,10)
fr = 0.0011 + 0.0009i

>> abs(fr)
ans = 0.0014

>> angle(fr)*180/pi %Convert to degrees

ans = 38.7107

>> %You can even find impulse and step response from transfer function.
>> step(sys)
>> impulse(sys)

© Copyright 2005-2009 Erik Cheever This page may be freely used for educational purposes.
Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Corrections?
Erik Cheever Department of Engineering Swarthmore College
>> [n,d]=tfdata(sys,'v') %Get numerator and denominator.
n =
0 1 11 10
d =
1 10 10000 0

>> [z,p,k]=zpkdata(sys,'v') %Get poles and zeros

z =
-10
-1
p =
0
-5.0000 +99.8749i
-5.0000 -99.8749i
k =
1

>> %Matlab program to show individual terms of Bode Plot.

>> %Code is available at
>> % http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/echeeve1/Ref/Bode/BodePlotGui.html
>> BodePlotGui(sys)

© Copyright 2005-2009 Erik Cheever This page may be freely used for educational purposes.
Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Corrections?
Erik Cheever Department of Engineering Swarthmore College