Reflections on schur-cohn matrices and jury-marden tables and classification of related unit circle zero location criteria

We use the so-called reflection coefficients (RCs) to examine, review, and classify the Schur-Cohn and Marden-Jury (SCMJ) class of tests for determining the zero location of a discrete-time system polynomial with respect to the unit circle. These parameters are taken as a platform to propose a partition of the SCMJ class into four useful types of schemes. The four types differ in the sequence of polynomials (the "table") they associate with the tested polynomials by scaling factors: (A) a sequence of monic polynomials, (B) a sequence of least arithmetic operations, (C) a sequence that produces the principal minors of the Schur-Cohn matrix, and (D) a sequence that avoids division arithmetic. A direct derivation of a zero location rule in terms of the RCs is first provided and then used to track a proper zero location rule in terms of the leading coefficients of the polynomials of the B, C, and D scheme prototypes. We review many of the published stability tests in the SCMJ class and show that each can be sorted into one of these four types. This process is instrumental in extending some of the tests from stability conditions to zero location, from real to complex polynomial, in providing a proof of tests stated without a proof, or in correcting some inaccuracies. Another interesting outcome of the current approach is that a byproduct of developing a zero location rule for the Type C test is one more proof for the relation between the zero location of a polynomial and the inertia of its Schur-Cohn matrix.