Transient performance of linear systems through symmetric polynomials.

Several time-domain constraints for linear systems are characterized using a new representation of the impulse response based on symmetric polynomials. This includes the induced infinity-norm, the peak response and external positivity - performance indices that are complicated to impose in existing LMI frameworks. Each index is described by a convex constraint, explicit in terms of the system poles. Despite their simplicity, numerical examples suggest that these constraints can provide relatively tight performance bounds.