
2 Detailed Help on usage
2.1 Starting RLTOOL
load the rltool library as per instructions in the README file. If the
library loads properly the following message is displayed on Scilab
prompt:
-->mode(-1);
rltool is loaded. Type "rlt()"
to start rltool-1.4
It is STRONGLY recommended that you use Netscape navigator
or a similar html viewer/web
browser to view the help pages!
Looking for an html viewer on
your computer................
If the html viewer/ web browser
fails to start,
direct it manually to the
following location:
/home/ishan/devel/rltool/man/whatis.htm
If you have netscape navigator installed on your linux/unix machine,
RLTOOL will start the web browser and display the help file. If
netscape is not installed, or if you are using Windows, you will need
to direct your web browser (e.g. Internet explorer) to the location
displayed on the Scilab command prompt for seeing these help files.
Type ``rlt()'' to start this programme.
If you have been using an older version of rltool, you will probably
see a message like
IMPORTANT
^^^^^^^
Found the file .rltoolcfg.sci at
the location
/home/ishan. If you have been
using
an older version of rltool, or
have modified rltool in any way
please remove this file. You may
have problems with rltool if this file is not removed.
when you build/load rltool. Please remove this file. If you have
already removed this file you may ignore the message.
However if you do ANY changes to rltool (modification of
functions or moving files from one directory to another) you
will have to erase .rltoolcfg.sci once before you can
start rltool with the modified function(s).
2.2 Using RLTOOL
It is intended to make RLTOOL very user friendly and as such most
features should be obvious.
On typing ``rlt()'', the you will be prompted to either select a new
rltool session or load a previous saved file. If a new session is
selected, the you will be prompted to enter the transfer
function as numerator / denominator in the variable 's'. Rltool will
automatically load the plant you were working with in the previous
session of rltool. Click ``Ok'' to confirm this plant. You may wish to
edit the plant, in that case type the new plant and click ``Ok''. A
Rootlocus plot of the transfer function is displayed. Open loop
poles are shown by crosses and zeros by circles. Click on any point of
the rootlocus plot to know the gain and closed loop poles
corresponding to that point. All poles are highlighted by a mark and
the corresponding gain is displayed on the top of the graphics window.
If you want a grid on the rootlocus, select ``Grid--> On''.
Likewise,
to turn it off, select ``Grid--> Off''. If you want to draw constant
damping ratio z and natural frequency wn lines,
click on ``Grid--> Zeta/Wn''. You will be prompted to enter one
z and one wn of your choice. If you want to do this
for
various values of z and wn try ``Grid--> sgrid''.
The rootlocus is plotted with a finite (maximum) gain. This is, by
default set to 1000. You can change this by clicking on ``Settings->
Rootlocus''. You might want to increase/decrease the maximum possible
gain if your rootlocus shows hanging/incomplete lines or is too
cluttered. Keeping this gain more than 1× e10 may result in
errors.
Click on a point of the rootlocus. A window opens and displays
the following "subplots" that can be used for preview:
- Closed loop pole(s) and zero(s)
- Closed loop unit step response.
- Closed loop bode plot.
- Sensitivity plot
Note that "closed loop plant" may include either "gain in feedback" or
"gain in forward path". Please see the "Settings" section for how to do
this. You can also set the units (hz or rad/sec) for bode and
sensitivity plots. Please see the section on "Settings".
You can view the exact (numerical value) of closed loop poles, zeros
and gain by clicking on Response->Details. A popup window displays
this data. Click on "step response" button of the popup window to view
data like damping factor, %overshoot, rise time etc. The damping factor
is computed for a dominant pole approximation.
2.2.2 Frequency design
Rltool comes with two design modes... time domain (rootlocus) and
frequency domain. You can select the frequency domain mode by clicking
on ``Design-->Frequency''. You will see the frequency magnitude plot
of the open loop transfer function. The magnitude is shown in decibel
and frequency in rad/sec. Click on the plot to determine the magnitude
and frequency. The frequency domain part is still under
development. It will be a great idea to take up this aspect and design
it further! You can ofcourse return to the rootlocus mode by clicking
on ``Design ® Root Locus''.

