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norm
norm(sys,inf)
norm(sys,inf,tol)
[ninf,fpeak] = norm(sys,inf)
norm computes the
or
norm of a continuous- or discrete-time
LTI model.
The
norm of a stable continuous system
with transfer function
, is the root-mean-square of its
impulse response, or equivalently
![]()
This norm measures the steady-state covariance (or power)
of the output response
to unit white noise inputs
.
![]()
The infinity norm is the peak gain of the frequency response, that is,

where
denotes the largest singular value of a matrix.
The discrete-time counterpart is
![]()
norm(sys) or norm(sys,2) both return the
norm of the TF, SS, or ZPK model sys. This norm is infinite in the following cases:
sys is unstable.
sys is continuous and has a nonzero
feedthrough (that is, nonzero gain at the frequency
).
Note that norm(sys) produces the same result as
sqrt(trace(covar(sys,1)))
norm(sys,inf) computes the infinity norm of any type of LTI model sys. This norm is infinite if sys has poles on the imaginary axis in continuous time, or on the unit circle in discrete time.
norm(sys,inf,tol) sets the desired relative accuracy on the computed infinity norm (the default value is tol=1e-2).
[ninf,fpeak] = norm(sys,inf) also returns the frequency fpeak where the gain achieves its peak value.
Consider the discrete-time transfer function
![]()
with sample time 0.1 second. Compute its
norm by typing
H = tf([1 -2.841 2.875 -1.004],[1 -2.417 2.003 -0.5488],0.1)
norm(H)
ans =
1.2438
Compute its infinity norm by typing
[ninf,fpeak] = norm(H,inf)
ninf =
2.5488
fpeak =
3.0844
These values are confirmed by the Bode plot of
.
bode(H)

The gain indeed peaks at approximately 3 rad/sec and its peak value in dB is found by typing
20*log10(ninf)
This command produces the following result.
ans =
8.1268
norm uses the same algorithm as covar for the
norm, and the algorithm of [1]
for the infinity norm. sys is first converted to
state space.
[1] Bruisma, N.A. and M. Steinbuch, "A Fast Algorithm to Compute
the
-Norm of a Transfer Function Matrix," System Control Letters, 14 (1990), pp. 287-293.
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