Real spectral values coexistence and their effect on the stability of time-delay systems: Vandermonde matrices and exponential decay (Q2219986)

The authors study the generic \(n\)th-order ordinary differential equation perturbed by a forcing delay term \[y^{(n)}(t)+\sum_{k=0}^{n-1} a_k\,y^{(k)}(t)+\alpha\,y(t-\tau)=0,\quad t\in\mathbb{R}^+,\] which, from a control theory point of view, can be understood as a control system with a delayed-output-feedback control \(u(t)=- \alpha\,y(t-\tau)\). The aim of the paper is to study the stabilizing effect of the coexistence of the maximal number of real spectral values, a fact related to the invertibility of a class of functional Vandermonde matrices. As a consequence, they obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for spectrum assignment and provide a new exponential stability criterion for the trivial solution of the above control system. They illustrate the proposed method for the case of stabilization of coupled oscillators.