Electronic – Poles and Bode Plots

transfer function

I have three questions that have been troubling me for a long while:

  1. We say that, in a Bode plot, there is a drop in gain of 20 dB per decade whenever a pole is encountered. But aren't poles defined as the values of \$s\$ which make the transfer function infinity? So why doesn't the gain go up at this point instead of going down?

  2. Physically what happens when we feed a system with a pole frequency?

  3. Also, consider a transfer function \$1/(s+2)\$. The system has pole at \$s=(-2+j0)\$. That is, for the pole, \$\sigma=-2\$ and \$\omega=0\$. But when we apply a sinusoidal signal to its input and draw the Bode plot, why do we say that there is a pole at 2 rad/sec (even though, for the pole, \$\omega=0\$ and \$\sigma =-2\$)?

Best Answer

Bode plot is not a graph that plots the transfer function (\$H(s)\$) against \$s\$. \$H(s)\$ is a complex function and its magnitude plot actually represents a surface in Cartesian coordinate system. And this surface will have peaks going to infinity at each poles as shown in figure:

enter image description here

Bode plot is obtained by first substituting \$s= j\omega\$ in \$H(s)\$ and then representing it in polar form \$H(j\omega) = |H(\omega)|\angle\phi(\omega)\$. \$H(\omega)\$ gives the magnitude bode plot and \$\phi(\omega)\$ gives the phase bode plot.

Bode magnitude plot is the asymptotic approximation of the magnitude of transfer function (\$|H(\omega)|\$) vs logarithm of frequency in radians/sec (\$\log_{10}|\omega|\$) with \$|H(s)|\$ (expressed in dB) on y-axis and \$\log_{10}|\omega|\$ on x-axis.

Coming to the questions:

  1. At poles, the complex surface of \$|H(s)|\$ peaks to infinity not \$|H(\omega)|\$.

  2. When a system is fed with pole frequency, the cosponsoring output will be having the same frequency but amplitude and phase will be changing. The value can be determined by substituting the frequency in radians/sec in \$|H(\omega)|\$ and \$\phi(\omega)\$ respectively.

  3. A pole at -2 rad/sec and 2 rad/sec have the same effect on \$|H(\omega)|\$. And our interest is in the frequency response. So we need only positive part of it.