Robust Stability of Time-Varying Uncertain Systems With Rational Dependence on the Uncertainty

Robust stability of time-varying uncertain systems is a key problem in automatic control. This note considers the case of linear systems with rational dependence on an uncertain time-varying vector constrained in a polytope, which is typically addressed in the literature by using the linear fractional representation (LFR). A novel sufficient condition for robust stability is derived in terms of a linear matrix inequality (LMI) feasibility test by exploiting homogeneous polynomial Lyapunov functions, the square matrix representation and an extended version of Polya's theorem which considers structured matrix polynomials. It is shown that this condition is also necessary for second-order systems, and that this condition is less conservative than existing LMI conditions based on the LFR for any order.