Linear feedback systems and the graph topology

Abstract

It is established for general linear systems that the gap metric induces the coarsest topology with respect to which both closed-loop stability and closed-loop performance are robust properties. In earlier works, similar topological results were obtained by exploiting the existence of particular coprime-factor system representations, not known to exist in general. By constrast, the development here does not rely on any specific system representations. Systems are simply characterized as subspaces of norm bounded input-output pairs, and the analysis hinges on the underlying geometric structure of the feedback stabilization problem. Unlike other work developed within such a framework, fundamen..