Nonlinear influence in the frequency domain: Alternating series

The nonlinear influence on system output spectrum is studied for a class of nonlinear systems which have Volterra series expansion. It is shown that under certain conditions the system output spectrum can be expressed in an alternating series with respect to some model parameters which define system nonlinearities. The magnitude of the system output spectrum can therefore be suppressed by exploiting the properties of alternating series. Sufficient (and necessary) conditions in which the output spectrum can be cast into an alternating series are studied. These results reveal a novel frequency-domain insight into the nonlinear influence on a system, and provide a new method for the analysis and design of nonlinear systems in the frequency domain. Examples are given to illustrate the results. (c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.