Dominant Mixed Feedback Design for Stable Oscillations

Abstract: We present a design framework to induce stable oscillations through mixed feedback control. We provide conditions on the feedback gain and on the balance between positive and negative feedback contributions to guarantee robust oscillations. Using linear matrix inequalities, we later derive a systematic design for robustness to bounded dynamic uncertainties and for passive interconnections. The results of the paper provide a system-theoretic justification to several observations from system biology and neuroscience pointing at the mixed feedback as a fundamental enabler for robust oscillations. Our results are illustrated through a distributed electrical circuit mimicking (simplified) neural dynamics.