Publications Details

An optimal projection controller for an experimental truss structure

Peterson, L.D.

An Optimal Projection reduced order controller is designed and implemented on an experimental controlled structure testbed. Twenty modes of the test structure lie within the controller bandwidth. Four strain sensor signals are fed back through an eighteenth order dynamic controller into four stress actuators (not collocated with the sensors) to reduce the vibration of the structure. Five independent performance measures are simultaneously minimized with an Optimal Projection controller derived from a 58th order state space model. The controller reduces the RMS vibration response by up to 65% without saturating the actuators and without destabilizing high frequency modes. The Optimal Projection controller always performs better than a sub-optimal controller based on ordinary Linear Quadratic Gaussian theory. The homotopy algorithm used to solve the Optimal Projection synthesis equations is described, and both analytical and experimental results are presented. 26 refs., 6 figs., 5 tabs.