Theory of the Analysis of Nonlinear Systems
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DOCUOfENT ROOaMDy(0C ROOM 36-412 RESEARSH LABORATORY OF ELECTRO?ICS IMASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGT I
.. THEORY OF THE ANALYSIS OF NONLINEAR SYSTEMS
MARTIN B. BRILLIANT
TECHNICAL REPORT 345
MARCH 3, 1958
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH LABORATORY OF ELECTRONICS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
I - MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH LABORATORY OF ELECTRONICS
Technical Report 345 March 3, 1958
THEORY OF THE ANALYSIS OF NONLINEAR SYSTEMS
Martin B. Brilliant
This report is based on a thesis submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering, M.I.T., January 13, 1958, in partial ful- fillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science.
Abstract
A theory of the analysis of nonlinear systems is developed. The central problem is the mathematical representation of the dependence of the value of the output of such systems on the present and past of the input. It is shown that these systems can be con- sidered as generalized functions, and that many mathematical methods used for the representation of functions of a real variable, particularly tables of values, polynomials, and expansions in series of orthogonal functions, can be used in generalized form for nonlinear systems. The discussion is restricted to time-invariant systems with bounded inputs. A defi- nition of a continuous system is given, and it is shown that any continuous system can be approximately represented, with the error as small as may be required, by the methods mentioned above. Roughly described, a continuous system is one that is relatively insensitive to small changes in the input, to rapid fluctuations (high frequencies) in the input, and to the remote past of the input. A system is called an analytic system if it can be exactly represented by a certain formula that is a power-series generalization of the convolution integral. This formula can represent not only continuous systems but also no-memory nonlinear systems. Methods are derived for calculating, in analytic form, the results of inversion, addition, multiplication, cascade combination, and simple feedback connection of analytic systems. The resulting series is proved to be convergent under certain conditions, and bounds are derived for the radius of convergence, the output, and the error incurred by using only the first few terms. Methods are suggested for the experimental determination of ana- lytic representations for given systems.