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Lead and lag compensators

Lecture 17

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Overview
 Definition
 Lead compensators
 Impact
 Design with Bode plots
 Lag compensators
 Impact
 Design with Bode plots
 Summary of lead and lag compensators
 Short discussion of lag-lead compensators

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Definition
 Both a lead compensator and a lag compensator have the same
shape:
Lead compensators: Lag compensators:
1 1
𝑠𝑠+ 𝑠𝑠+
𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 = 𝐾𝐾 𝜏𝜏
1 with 0 < 𝛼𝛼 < 1 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 = 𝐾𝐾 𝜏𝜏
1 with 𝛽𝛽 > 1
𝑠𝑠+ 𝑠𝑠+
𝛼𝛼𝛼𝛼 𝛽𝛽𝜏𝜏

1 1 1
 So they have a zero at 𝑠𝑠 = − and a pole at 𝑠𝑠 = − or −
𝜏𝜏 𝛼𝛼𝛼𝛼 𝛽𝛽𝛽𝛽
 For lead compensators the pole lies more to the left in the
complex plane than the zero and vice versa for lag compensators
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Definition
 Their differences show themselves clearly by comparing their
respective Bode plots:

Lead compensator Lag compensator

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Lead compensators

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Lead compensators: impact

 They push the poles of the closed loop system to the left
 Stabilization of system
 Fast response
 Increase phase margin
 Thanks to the presence of
a pole, the high frequencies
(where most of the unwanted
noise is located) are less
amplified

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots

 Focus: design lead compensators to tune the phase margin
(PM)

gain crossover
0 dB

PM −180°

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots

 Other design characteristics are also possible

DC gain
0 dB −3 dB
gain margin bandwidth

−180°

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots

 Design process: tuning of the phase margin, with as a surplus
(because we will have one extra degree of freedom) the
tuning of the steady state error
 Compensate for the excessive phase lag that is a result of the
components of 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠
 Increase in phase at gain crossover frequency (GCF) if GCF is
around pole and zero of the lead compensator
 Gain is impacted by the lead compensator
⇒ 𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝐶(𝑠𝑠) ≠ 𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots

How can we mathematically design a good lead compensator?
 Required increase in phase gain: 𝜙𝜙
 To compensate for increase GCF due to 𝐶𝐶(𝑠𝑠) ⇒ 𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚 = 𝜙𝜙 + 5°
This will determine 𝛼𝛼 and 𝜏𝜏
 𝐾𝐾 will be used to tune the steady state error
Im

 Determination of 𝛼𝛼
𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚
 From the polar plot, we find 1
𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚
(1 − 𝛼𝛼)
1 2
(1−𝛼𝛼) 1−𝛼𝛼 𝜔𝜔 = 0 𝜔𝜔 → ∞
2
sin(𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚 ) = 1 = 0 𝛼𝛼 1
Re
(1+𝛼𝛼) 1+𝛼𝛼
2 1
(1 + 𝛼𝛼)
1−sin(𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚 ) 2
⇒ 𝛼𝛼 = Polar plot of a lead compensator:
1+sin(𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚 )
𝛼𝛼(𝑗𝑗𝑗𝑗𝑗𝑗 + 1)/(𝑗𝑗𝑗𝑗𝑗𝑗𝑗𝑗 + 1) where 0 < 𝛼𝛼 < 1

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots

 Determination of τ
 From the Bode plot of the lead compensator, the maximal
phase is obtained at the frequency of the geometric mean of
1
1/𝜏𝜏 and 1/𝛼𝛼𝛼𝛼: 𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 =
𝛼𝛼𝜏𝜏
 Use the gain crossover frequency of 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 as 𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 :
𝑃𝑃 𝑗𝑗𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 𝐶𝐶 𝑗𝑗𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 =1

1/𝛼𝛼𝜏𝜏 2 + 1/𝜏𝜏 2
𝑃𝑃 𝑗𝑗𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 𝐾𝐾 = 𝑃𝑃 𝑗𝑗𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 𝐾𝐾 𝛼𝛼 = 1
1/𝛼𝛼𝜏𝜏 2 + 1/𝛼𝛼 2 𝜏𝜏 2
20 log 𝑃𝑃 𝑗𝑗𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 = −20 log 𝐾𝐾 𝛼𝛼
 So the value of 𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 can be determined from 𝑃𝑃(𝑠𝑠)’s Bode plot,
at least if you know 𝐾𝐾 (our last degree of freedom)

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots

 Determination of 𝐾𝐾
 Remember the steady state error for references of the shape
𝐴𝐴𝑡𝑡 𝑛𝑛 𝜀𝜀 𝑡𝑡 /𝑛𝑛!, with 𝜀𝜀 𝑡𝑡 the step function
 We found the error constants 𝐾𝐾𝑝𝑝 , 𝐾𝐾𝑣𝑣 and 𝐾𝐾𝑎𝑎 as measures for
the steady state error for a proportional (𝑛𝑛 = 0), linear (𝑛𝑛 =
1) and accelerating (𝑛𝑛 = 2) reference
 So these error constants can be used to find proper values of
1
𝑠𝑠+
𝐾𝐾: lim 𝐾𝐾 𝜏𝜏
1 𝑠𝑠 𝑛𝑛 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 = 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 lim 𝑠𝑠 𝑛𝑛 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠
𝑠𝑠→0 𝑠𝑠+ 𝑠𝑠→0
𝛼𝛼𝛼𝛼

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots, recipe

1. Find 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 from you’re steady-state requirement
2. Determine 𝜙𝜙, the amount with which you want to increase
the PM; if the PM is OK, you don’t need a lead compensator;
a proportional controller with gain 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 suffices
3. Add 5°, to get 𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚 = 𝜙𝜙 + 5° (if 𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚 > 60°, you’ll need more
than one lead compensator)
1−sin 𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚
4. You’ll find 𝛼𝛼 from this 𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚 : 𝛼𝛼 = and hence also 𝐾𝐾
1+sin 𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚
5. Find the desired 𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 by looking at the Bode plot of 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 and
finding the frequency at which the gain equals
− 20 log 𝐾𝐾 𝛼𝛼 dB
1
6. You’ll find 𝜏𝜏 as
𝛼𝛼𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚
7. Verify if the system behaves as desired
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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots, example

 Given: system 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 = 4/𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑠 + 2
 Objective: 𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 ≥ 50° and a steady state error for a slope
reference (𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝑡𝑡 ) of maximal 𝐴𝐴/20

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots, example

1. Steady-state requirement: 𝐾𝐾𝑣𝑣 = 20/𝑠𝑠
4
lim 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 = lim 𝑠𝑠 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 = 2𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 = 20
𝑠𝑠→0 𝑠𝑠→0 𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑠 + 2
⇒ 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 = 10

2. Phase margin of 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 𝑠𝑠 = 18°

⇒ 𝜙𝜙 = 32°

3. 𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚 = 𝜙𝜙 + 5° = 37°

1−sin 𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚
4. 𝛼𝛼 = = 0.24
1+sin 𝜙𝜙𝑚𝑚 PM= 18°

𝐾𝐾 = 10/𝛼𝛼 = 42
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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots, example

5. find 𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 = the frequency
at which the gain is
− 20 log 𝐾𝐾 𝛼𝛼 dB

GCF(𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 𝐾𝐾 𝛼𝛼) =
GCF(𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 )
⇒ 𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 = 9 rad/𝑠𝑠

1
6. 𝜏𝜏 = = 0.23
𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 𝛼𝛼

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots, example

7. Verify!
 The new PM is
indeed ≥ 50°
 The new 𝜔𝜔𝑚𝑚 is
indeed
9 rad/s

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Lead compensators: design with Bode plots, example

 Evaluation of impacts of lead compensators:
 Pushing the poles to the left: this is not directly visible here,
but is linked to the increased BW
 The increase in bandwidth (this is linked to the response
speed) and the increase in the phase margin were apparent
in the Bode plot of 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠
 A (small) decrease in the steady-state error occurs, since we
designed it as such
Why small? The steady-state error decreases when the DC
gain gets larger, but a lead compensator’s impact on the gain
isn’t really built to increase the DC gain, the shape of a lag
compensator is much more fit for this

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Lead compensators: design with root locus

 Design lead compensators with root locus for time-domain
quantities - use dominant pole locations to fulfill overshoot,
rise time, settling time, damping ratio, … requirements

 This is not a part of this course

 For more information, check additional slides on webplatform

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Lag compensators

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Lag compensators: impact (Bode)

 Lead compensators: increase the Lead compensator

stability and tune the steady-state

error by increasing the phase at the
crossover frequency
 Impact lag compensator = lead
compensator, but different
approach!
Lag compensator

By decreasing the gain, the gain

crossover frequency comes down to
a frequency at which the
corresponding phase is higher

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Lag compensators: impact (Bode)

 Large difference between lead and Lead compensator

lag: 3 dB
their effect on the bandwidth of the
system and hence on its speed of
response
 A lead compensator increases the
bandwidth/speed of response
 Good if you want the system to react fast Lag compensator

 A lag compensator decreases the 3 dB

bandwidth/speed of response
 Good if your model is bad at high
frequencies
 Good to reduce the impact of (mostly
high-frequency) noise

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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots

1
𝑠𝑠+
𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 = 𝐾𝐾 𝜏𝜏
1 with 𝛽𝛽 > 1
𝑠𝑠+
𝛽𝛽𝜏𝜏

 Design process: we use

 one degree of freedom to
have a sufficient drop in gain
 one degree of freedom to
push the drop in the phase
to lower frequencies (that
way we can use ∠ 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 as
an approximation of
∠ 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 reliably to some extent
 one more degree of freedom to tune the steady state error

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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots

 Increase of phase margin ⇒ decrease of the magnitude at
some higher frequencies (wrt DC)
 Decrease of the steady state error ⇒ increase of the
magnitude at DC
⇒ A lag compensator can realize both conditions
𝑠𝑠+1/𝜏𝜏
 At DC value, the gain becomes: lim 𝐾𝐾 = 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾
𝑠𝑠→0 𝑠𝑠+1/𝛽𝛽𝛽𝛽
s+1/𝜏𝜏
 At high frequencies, the gain becomes: lim 𝐾𝐾 = 𝐾𝐾
𝑠𝑠→∞ 𝑠𝑠+1/𝛽𝛽𝛽𝛽
 𝐾𝐾 has to be such that the drop in magnitude is sufficient, the
value of 𝛽𝛽 has make the steady state error decrease enough
and the value of 𝜏𝜏 has to be such that the transfer between
from 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 to 𝐾𝐾 occurs at the right frequency

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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots

 Determination of 𝐾𝐾
 Easily read from Bode plot Required change
in magnitude
 Find the frequency (𝜔𝜔) with
desired phase margin (+ safety
factor), then find the magnitude
at that frequency; which is
equal to the required change Desired PM +
in magnitude = 𝑄𝑄 safety factor
1
 𝐾𝐾 is then simply equal to 𝜔𝜔
𝑄𝑄
 Safety factor of about 10°:
1. the drop in magnitude will not be complete (this is very marginal)
2. the lag compensator influences the phase plot

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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots

 Determination of 𝛽𝛽
 We can find 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 in a similar way as we found 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 for lead
compensators
 Translate steady state error requirement in a requirement on
𝐾𝐾𝑝𝑝 (= lim 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 ), 𝐾𝐾𝑣𝑣 (= lim 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 ), 𝐾𝐾𝑎𝑎 (=
𝑠𝑠→0 𝑠𝑠→0
lim 𝑠𝑠 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 ), or another error constant
2
𝑠𝑠→0
 With this 𝐾𝐾𝑝𝑝/𝑣𝑣/𝑎𝑎/... and lim 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 we can determine
𝑠𝑠→0
lim 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 = 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾
𝑠𝑠→0

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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots

 Determination of 𝜏𝜏
 Take 𝜏𝜏 large enough such that the
magnitude is almost entirely
dropped, and the phase drop has
almost disappeared
 Take the zero one decade smaller
than the frequency (𝜔𝜔) at which
𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 had the desired phase
(−180° + the desired phase margin + a safety factor of 10°)
 Verify the effect of a single zero at a frequency one decade
smaller than 𝜔𝜔
• The drop in magnitude is as good as complete
• The drop in phase cannot be more than −5.7°

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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots

 Let’s translate all of this into a recipe again:
1. Translate your steady-state requirement into a requirement
on lim 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 = 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 and verify whether a proportional
𝑠𝑠→0
controller with gain 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 would suffice
2. Read 𝜔𝜔, the frequency at which the phase margin equals
−180° + your desired phase margin + 10°, off the Bode
diagram; this allows us to compute 𝜏𝜏 = 10/𝜔𝜔
3. Read 𝑄𝑄, the magnitude at 𝜔𝜔 off the Bode plot and determine
𝐾𝐾 = 1/𝑄𝑄
4. Determine 𝛽𝛽 = 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾/𝐾𝐾
5. Verify the behavior of the resulting system

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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots, example

1
 Given: system 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 =
𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑠+1 𝑠𝑠+2
 Objective: 𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 ≥ 40° and a ramp input (𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝑡𝑡 ) results in a
steady state error of at most 𝐴𝐴/5, or 𝐾𝐾𝑣𝑣 = 5/𝑠𝑠

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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots, example

1. Steady-state requirement 𝐾𝐾𝑣𝑣 = 5/𝑠𝑠
1
lim 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑠 𝑃𝑃 𝑠𝑠 = lim 𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 = 5 /𝑠𝑠
𝑠𝑠→0 2 𝑠𝑠→0
⇒ 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 = 10

2. Look at the effect of

𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 𝑠𝑠 on the Bode plot
3. Adding a gain of
10 = 20 dB to get the right
steady state error, the phase
gain would become negative
which means the system
would become unstable
4. ⇒ Lag compensator is necessary
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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots, example

2. Determine 𝜔𝜔: the frequency at which the phase equals
− 180° + 40° + 10° = −130°
⇒ 𝜔𝜔 ≅ 0.5 rad/s ⇒ 𝜏𝜏 = 20

3. We can also read off

𝑄𝑄 = 0 dB = 1, which gives
us 𝐾𝐾 = 1/𝑄𝑄 = 1

4. Thus we find 𝛽𝛽 = 10

This gives us the following

compensator:
𝑠𝑠+0.05
𝐶𝐶 𝑠𝑠 =
𝑠𝑠+0.005
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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots, example

5. Verify!
 The new PM is
indeed ≥ 40°

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Lag compensators: design with Bode plots, example

Goal of lag compensator?
 To decrease the magnitude in order to shift the gain crossover
frequency to a frequency with a larger phase margin; the
extra degree of freedom is then used to tune the steady-state
error

 In this example: lag compensator to tune the steady state

error with a minimal impact on the phase margin
 So this time we used a lag compensator to increase the DC
gain but leave the gain at higher frequencies unaltered

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Lag compensators: impact (root locus)

 We can also use lag compensators to reduce the steady state
error significantly but with a marginal impact on (the relevant
part of) the root locus
 On top of that, we still have one degree of freedom that
allows us to pick any position on that root locus!
 This is useful if the desired closed loop poles are already on
the root locus, but if a proportional controller would give a
too large steady-state error

 We will not go further into detail in design of lag

compensators using root locus
 For more information, check additional slides on webplatform

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Summary

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Summary of lead and lag compensators

Lead compensator Lag compensator

Bode plot • Increasing the stability • Increasing the stability
design margins margins
• Tuning the steady state error • Tuning the steady state error
• Relative increase in the high • Relative decrease in the high
frequency gain (good if you frequency gain (good if your
want a faster response) model behaves bad at high
frequencies which is fairly
common, as noise tends to
be dominant at high
frequencies)
Root locus • Changing the shape of the • Decreasing the steady state
design root locus for a faster error without changing the
response shape of the root locus

Systems and Control Theory 36

 STADIUS - Center for Dynamical Systems,
Signal Processing and Data Analytics

Summary of lead and lag compensators

 Another important thing to note is that we ‘use’ different
aspects for the design of lead and lag compensators:
 When we design lead compensators we make use of the fact
that it can add some phase at a specific frequency
 When we design lag compensators we make use of the fact
that it permits to add gain at low frequencies (which
improves the steady-state error), and a reduction of the gain
at high frequencies (which reduces instability of the closed
loop system)

Systems and Control Theory 37

 STADIUS - Center for Dynamical Systems,
Signal Processing and Data Analytics

Lag-lead compensators

Systems and Control Theory 38

 STADIUS - Center for Dynamical Systems,
Signal Processing and Data Analytics

Short discussion of lag-lead compensators

 In some cases you would want to combine the effects of a lag
and a lead compensator:
 Frequency domain:
In most cases a lead compensator is more fit to increase
the phase margin and a lag compensator is better at
decreasing the steady-state error

 Time domain
You might want to adapt the root locus with a lead
compensator, and decrease the steady-state error while
leaving the new root locus unaltered with a lag
compensator

Systems and Control Theory 39

 STADIUS - Center for Dynamical Systems,
Signal Processing and Data Analytics

Short discussion of lag-lead compensators

 A lag-lead compensator has the following formula:
1 1
𝑠𝑠+ 𝑠𝑠+
𝜏𝜏1 𝜏𝜏2
𝐾𝐾 1 1 , with 0 < 𝛼𝛼 < 1, 1 < 𝛽𝛽 and 𝜏𝜏1 < 𝜏𝜏2
𝑠𝑠+ 𝑠𝑠+
𝛼𝛼𝜏𝜏1 𝛽𝛽𝜏𝜏2

 Its Bode plot looks as follows: The (useful) lag compensator

part 1: it’s meant to decrease the
steady-state error

The (useful) lag compensator

part 2: it’s meant to increase the
phase margin

The (useful) lead compensator

part: it’s meant to increase the
phase margin
Systems and Control Theory 40
 STADIUS - Center for Dynamical Systems,
Signal Processing and Data Analytics

Short discussion of lag-lead compensators

 The disadvantage of a lag-lead compensator over a lag
compensator or a lead compensator is its increased
complexity, and hence cost (the same way a lag or lead
compensator is more complex/costly than a proportional
controller)
 We will not go over a design procedure for this other typical
classical control component, as it does not add more insight
than the separate compensators do

Systems and Control Theory 41

Necessary of Compensation
1. In order to obtain the desired performance of the system, we
use compensating networks. Compensating networks are
applied to the system in the form of feed forward path gain
adjustment.
2. Compensate a unstable system to make it stable.
3. A compensating network is used to minimize overshoot.
4. These compensating networks increase the steady state
accuracy of the system. An important point to be noted here is
that the increase in the steady state accuracy brings instability
to the system.
5. Compensating networks also introduces poles and zeros in the
system thereby causes changes in the transfer function of the
system. Due to this, performance specifications of the system
change.

Methods of Compensation
1. Connecting compensating circuit between error detector and
plants known as series compensation.
1. When a compensator used in a feedback manner
called feedback compensation.

Feedback Compensator

2. A combination of series and feedback compensator is

called load compensation.
 Load
Compensator

Now what are compensating networks? A compensating network

is one which makes some adjustments in order to make up for
deficiencies in the system. Compensating devices are may be in
the form of electrical, mechanical, hydraulic etc. Most electrical
compensator are RC filter. The simplest network used for
compensator are known as lead, lag network.

Phase Lead Compensation

A system which has one pole and one dominating zero (the zero
which is closer to the origin than all over zeros is known as
dominating zero.) is known as lead network. If we want to add a
dominating zero for compensation in control system then we
have to select lead compensation network. The basic
requirement of the phase lead network is that all poles and zeros
of the transfer function of the network must lie on (-)ve real axis
interlacing each other with a zero located at the origin of nearest
origin. Given below is the circuit diagram for the phase lead
compensation network.
 Phase Lead
Compensation NetworkFrom above circuit we get,

Equating above expression of I we get,

Now let us determine the transfer function for the given network
and the transfer function can be determined by finding the ratio
of the output voltage to the input voltage. So taking Laplace
transform of both side of above equations,
On substituting the α = (R 1 +R2)/ R2 and T = {(R1R2) /(R1 +R2)} in
the above equation. Where, T and α are respectively the time
constant and attenuation constant, we have

The above network can be visualized as an amplifier with a gain

of 1/α. Let us draw the pole zero plot for the above transfer

function. Pole Zero Plot of

Lead Compensating NetworkClearly
we have -1/T (which is a zero of the
transfer function) is closer to origin than the -1/(αT) (which is the
pole of the transfer function).Thus we can say in the lead
compensator zero is more dominating than the pole and because
of this lead network introduces positive phase angle to the
system when connected in series.

Let us substitute s = jω in the above transfer function and also

we have α < 1. On finding the phase angle function for the
transfer function we have

Now in order to find put the maximum phase lead occurs at a

frequency let us differentiate this phase function and equate it to
zero. On solving the above equation we get

Where, θm is the maximum phase lead angle. And the

corresponding magnitude of the transfer function at maximum
θm is 1/a.

Effect of Phase Lead Compensation

1. The velocity constant Kv increases.
2. The slope of the magnitude plot reduces at the gain crossover
frequency so that relative stability improves and error decrease
due to error is directly proportional to the slope.
3. Phase margin increases.
4. Response become faster.
Advantages of Phase Lead Compensation
Let us discuss some of the advantages of the phase lead
compensation-

1. Due to the presence of phase lead network the speed of the

system increases because it shifts gain crossover frequency to
a higher value.
2. Due to the presence of phase lead compensation maximum
overshoot of the system decreases.
Disadvantages of Phase Lead Compensation
Some of the disadvantages of the phase lead compensation -

1. Steady state error is not improved.

Phase Lag Compensation
A system which has one zero and one dominating pole ( the pole
which is closer to origin that all other poles is known as
dominating pole) is known as lag network. If we want to add a
dominating pole for compensation in control system then, we
have to select a lag compensation network. The basic
requirement of the phase lag network is that all poles and zeros
of the transfer function of the network must lie in (-)ve real axis
interlacing each other with a pole located or on the nearest to the
origin. Given below is the circuit diagram for the phase lag
compensation network.

Phase Lag Compensating

NetworkWe will have the output at the series combination of
the resistor R2 and the capacitor C. From the above circuit
diagram, we get
Now let us determine the transfer function for the given network
and the transfer function can be determined by finding the ratio
of the output voltage to the input voltage.

Taking Laplace transform of above two equation we get,

On substituting the T = R2C and β = {(R2 + R1 ) / R1} in the above

equation (where T and β are respectively the time constant and
dc gain), we have

The above network provides a high frequency gain of 1 / β. Let us

draw the pole zero plot for the above transfer function.

Pole Zero Plot of Lag

NetworkClearlywe have -1/T (which is a zero of the transfer
function) is far to origin than the -1 / (βT)(which is the pole of
the transfer function). Thus we can say in the lag compensator
pole is more dominating than the zero and because of this lag
network introduces negative phase angle to the system when
connected in series.

Let us substitute s = jω in the above transfer function and also

we have a < 1. On finding the phase angle function for the
transfer function we have

Now in order to find put the maximum phase lag occurs at a

frequency let us differentiate this phase function and equate it to
zero. On solving the above equation we get

Where, θm is the maximum phase lead angle. Remember β is

generally chosen to be greater than 10.

Effect of Phase Lag Compensation

1. Gain crossover frequency increases.
2. Bandwidth decreases.
3. Phase margin will be increase.
4. Response will be slower before due to decreasing bandwidth,
the rise time and the settling time become larger.
Advantages of Phase Lag Compensation
Let us discuss some of the advantages of phase lag compensation
-

1. Phase lag network allows low frequencies and high frequencies

are attenuated.
2. Due to the presence of phase lag compensation the steady
state accuracy increases.
Disadvantages of Phase Lag Compensation
Some of the disadvantages of the phase lag compensation -

1. Due to the presence of phase lag compensation the speed of

the system decreases.
Phase Lag-Lead Compensation
With single lag or lead compensation may not satisfied design
specifications. For an unstable uncompensated system, lead
compensation provides fast response but does not provide
enough phase margin whereas lag compensation stabilize the
system but does not provide enough bandwidth. So we need
multiple compensators in cascade.

Given below is the circuit diagram for the phase lag- lead
compensation network.

Lag Lead
Compensating NetworkNow
let us determine transfer function for the
given network and the transfer function can be determined by
finding the ratio of the output voltage to the input voltage.
On substituting the αT 1 = R1C1, R2C2 = βT2, R1R2C1C2 = αβT1T2 and
T1T2 = R1R2C1C2 in the above equation (where T1, T2 and α, β are
respectively the time constants and attenuation constants). We
have

Let us draw the pole zero plot for the above transfer function.

Pole Zero Plot Lag

Lead NetworkClearly
we have -1/T (which is a zero of the transfer
function) is far to the origin than the -1/(βT)(which is the pole of
the transfer function). Thus we can say in the lag-lead
compensation pole is more dominating than the zero and
because of this lag-lead network may introduces positive phase
angle to the system when connected in series.
Advantages of Phase Lag-Lead Compensation
Let us discuss some of the advantages of phase lag- lead
compensation-

1. Due to the presence of phase lag-lead network the speed of the

system increases because it shifts gain crossover frequency to
a higher value.
2. Due to the presence of phase lag-lead network accuracy is
improved.

Procedure for design of lag compensator

The steps to design the lag Compensator are

1. Determine K from the error constatns given

2. Sketch the bode plot
3. Determine phase margin if it is not satisfactory design lag compensator

4. take as the required phase margin to that add a tolerance of 5 so that new phase margin is

5. Find new gain cross over frequency which is the frequency corresponding to of
previous step for that find

from the bode plot determine corresponding to

6. Determine gain corresponding to from bode plotlet it be A db

7. a lag compensator has the form

8.

since

9.

10. form the complete transfer function with the lag compensator added in series to th original
system
11. plot the new Bode plot and determine phase margin and observe that it is the required phase
margin