Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Patel, R. V.

Publications and source records attributed to Patel, R. V..

8 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1977

Robustness of linear quadratic state feedback designs in the presence of system uncertainty

In connection with difficulties concerning an accurate mathematical representation of a linear quadratic state feedback (LQSF) system, it is often necessary to investigate the robustness (stability) of an LQSF design in the presence of system uncertainty and obtain some quantitative measure of the perturbations which such a design can tolerate. A study is conducted concerning the problem of expressing the robustness property of an LQSF design quantitatively in terms of bounds on the perturbations (modeling errors or parameter variations) in the system matrices. Bounds are obtained for the general case of nonlinear, time-varying perturbations. It is pointed out that most of the presented results are readily applicable to practical situations for which a designer has estimates of the bounds on the system parameter perturbations. Relations are provided which help the designer to select appropriate weighting matrices in the quadratic performance index to attain a robust design. The developed results are employed in the design of an autopilot logic for the flare maneuver of the Augmentor Wing Jet STOL Research Aircraft.

Patel, R. V.↗
NASA NTRS1977

'Disturbance zeros' in multivariable systems

Zeros of the transfer matrix relating the outputs to the disturbances ('disturbance zeros') of a linear time-invariant system are defined. It is shown that these zeros are invariant under output feedback to control inputs but not under state feedback to control inputs, and the effect of state feedback on disturbance zeros is studied. The results are used to develop an algorithm for assigning disturbance zeros and system poles by means of state feedback. As an application of the algorithm, it is shown that the disturbance zeros can be positioned such that the effect of a class of disturbances at the outputs is eliminated in the steady state. An example is given to illustrate the main results of the paper.

Patel, R. V.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Algorithms for adaptive stochastic control for a class of linear systems

Control of linear, discrete time, stochastic systems with unknown control gain parameters is discussed. Two suboptimal adaptive control schemes are derived: one is based on underestimating future control and the other is based on overestimating future control. Both schemes require little on-line computation and incorporate in their control laws some information on estimation errors. The performance of these laws is studied by Monte Carlo simulations on a computer. Two single input, third order systems are considered, one stable and the other unstable, and the performance of the two adaptive control schemes is compared with that of the scheme based on enforced certainty equivalence and the scheme where the control gain parameters are known.

Toda, M.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Robustness in linear quadratic feedback design with application to an aircraft control problem

Some new results concerning robustness and asymptotic properties of error bounds of a linear quadratic feedback design are applied to an aircraft control problem. An autopilot for the flare control of the Augmentor Wing Jet STOL Research Aircraft (AWJSRA) is designed based on Linear Quadratic (LQ) theory and the results developed in this paper. The variation of the error bounds to changes in the weighting matrices in the LQ design is studied by computer simulations, and appropriate weighting matrices are chosen to obtain a reasonable error bound for variations in the system matrix and at the same time meet the practical constraints for the flare maneuver of the AWJSRA. Results from the computer simulation of a satisfactory autopilot design for the flare control of the AWJSRA are presented.

Patel, R. V.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Robustness of linear quadratic state feedback designs in the presence of system uncertainty

The paper deals with the problem of expressing the robustness (stability) property of a linear quadratic state feedback (LQSF) design quantitatively in terms of bounds on the perturbations (modeling errors or parameter variations) in the system matrices so that the closed-loop system remains stable. Nonlinear time-varying and linear time-invariant perturbations are considered. The only computation required in obtaining a measure of the robustness of an LQSF design is to determine the eigenvalues of two symmetric matrices determined when solving the algebraic Riccati equation corresponding to the LQSF design problem. Results are applied to a complex dynamic system consisting of the flare control of a STOL aircraft. The design of the flare control is formulated as an LQSF tracking problem.

Patel, R. V.↗
NASA NTRS1976

An algorithm for constructing minimal order inverses

In this paper an algorithm is presented for constructing minimal order inverses of linear, time invariant, controllable and observable, multivariable systems. By means of simple matrix operations, a 'state-overdescribed' system is first constructed which is an inverse of the given multivariable system. A simple Gauss-Jordan type reduction procedure is then used to remove the redundancy in the state vector of the inverse system to obtain a minimal order inverse. When the given multivariable system is not invertible, the algorithm enables a minimal order inverse of an invertible subsystem to be constructed. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the use of the algorithm.

Patel, R. V.↗
NASA NTRS1975

On the invertibility of linear multivariable systems

Some results concerning invertibility of a class of linear, time-invariant systems are presented. It is shown that by an appropriate factorization of the transfer matrix of such a system, the problem of checking its invertibility can be reduced to that of checking the invertibility of a lower-order system. A sufficient condition for invertibility is also obtained.

Patel, R. V.↗