RootLocs

ROOTLOCS

RootLocs is a FREE application for Mac and PC that plots root locus diagrams of systems that can be represented by single-input-single-output (SISO) feedback loops. It can handle continuous and discrete-time systems with up to 20 poles & 20 zeros, including systems with negative gain (positive feedback) and those with time delay in the loop.

Features

• data entry as either polynomials or poles & zeros

• easy addition, deletion and repositioning of poles & zeros graphically

• tools for finding the gain at any locus point - and all points corresponding to a given gain

• magnification of any part of the locus plot

• step and impulse response charts

• comprehensive built-in help

Root-Locus Theory

"The roots of a dynamic system's characteristic equation reveal directly and quantitatively the natural behavior it will have - at what frequencies it will vibrate and how quickly the vibrations will damp out. By plotting the locus of the characteristic roots, versus the design parameter being chosen, one can see precisely which values will give good behavior and which will not.... The quick, direct display of behavior characteristics and the powerful, immediate dynamic insight this provides, gives the Evans Root Locus method its central role...

Dr. Robert H. Cannon, Jr. (from a speech at the ASME 1987 Oldenburger Award Ceremony).

For Windows

Documentation