system robustness is reached via robust con-
troller design, although systems could be ro-
bust in some sense (for example, robustly sta-
ble) without use of any special design tech-
niques. It is, for example, well known that
for the majority of real-world plants, stan-
dard PID controller suitably tuned ensures
sufficient robustness. Nevertheless, in many
situations, robustness can be guaranteed only
by sophisticated design techniques such as
H infinity design, min-max control, practi-
cal stabilization, guaranteed cost control, and
others.
(2) the property of a process that results in
its being able to suppress the effects of noisy
or unreliable data, thereby arriving at reliable
measures or interpretations, and degrading
gracefully as more and more unreliable data
is included. With image data, robust proce-
dures are those which are able to detect ob-
jects without becoming confused by partial
occlusions, noise, clutter, object breakages,
and other distortions.
ROC
See
receiver operating characteristics
curve
,
region of convergence
.
ROI
See
region of interest
.
rollback
See
backward error recovery
.
Rollett stability factor
the inverse of the
Linville stability factor (
C), K is a measure
of potential stability in a 2-port circuit operat-
ing under small signal conditions, but stand-
alone is insufficient to guarantee stability. A
2-port circuit that is matched to a positive
real source and load impedance is uncondi-
tionally stable if
K > 1, B
1
> 0 (port 1
stability measure), and
B
2
> 0 (port 2 stabil-
ity measure). The design must provide suffi-
cient isolation from the RF input and output
ports to the bias ports to allow a reasonable
interpretation of the “2-port” device criteria.
K =
1
C
=
1
− | s
11
|
2
− | s
22
|
2
+ | 1 |
2
2
· | s
12
· s
21
|
where
1 = s
11
· s
22
− s
12
· s
21
.
rolling ball
a method of determining the
lightning protection to nearby structures af-
forded by a tall, well-grounded structure like
a steel tower. A shpere with a radius of 45 me-
ters is imagined rolled against the tower. Any
structure which can fit within the space de-
fined by the sphere’s point of contact with the
earth, the base of the tower, and the sphere’s
point of contact with the tower is considered
to be protected by the tower against lightning
strikes. See
cone of protection
.
rolloff
transition from pass-band to stop-
band.
ROM
See
read-only memory
.
Romex cable
a heavily insulated, non-
armored cable used in residential wiring.
root locus
the trajectory of the roots of an
algebraic equation with constant coefficient
when a parameter varies.
root sensitivity
the dependence of the
poles and zeros of a lumped parameter cir-
cuit function on the circuit elements.
Let a lumped parameter circuit function
be represented as
F (s) =
a
m
Q
m
i=1
(s − z
i
)
d
n
Q
n
i=1
(s − p
i
)
where
z
i
are zeros and
p
i
are poles. If
F (s) is
also a function of the circuit element
x, the lo-
cation of these poles and zeros will depend on
this element. This dependence is described
by the semirelative root sensitivities
S
x
(z
i
) = x
∂z
i
∂x
S
x
(p
i
) = x
∂p
i
∂x
The calculation of these sensitivities is sim-
plified when zeros and poles are simple (not
multiple). For example, for a simple pole
p
i
,
the denominator of the circuit function satis-
fies the relationship
D (p
i
) = D
1
(p
i
) + xD
2
(p
i
) = 0
c
2000 by CRC Press LLC