The uniform distribution: A rigorous justification for its use in robustness analysis (Q1377583)

Consider a control system which is operated with admissible values of uncertain parameters which exceed the bounds specified by classical robustness theory. Then the tradeoffs between risk of performance degradation and increased tolerance of uncertainty should be quantified. The main results are provided in the context of robust stability analysis problems involving real parametric uncertainty. Two basic questions are addressed here: i) ``When can one ``safely'' operate with uncertain parameter bounds which exceed the stability margins given by classical robustness theory?'' and ``Can the assessment of risk be made in a ``distribution-free'' way?'' Under some assumptions given in the paper, the main results described here provide a rationale for use of the uniform distribution when little or no a priori statistical information about the uncertain parameters is available.