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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 217 records · Page 12

An analytic solution for the state trajectories of a feedback control system

In connection with the normal process of control system design, the determination of the state trajectories for the controlled system is frequently required. The procedure involved in the determination is straightforward. However, extensive computations may be needed, if either time-varying control gains are used, or if small integration step sizes are required by the presence of high-frequency system dynamics. The present investigation is concerned with an approach for overcoming the computational difficulties, taking into account a change of variables for the close-loop system dynamics equation. This procedure makes it possible to obtain a closed-form expression for the state trajectories.

Turner, J. D.↗

Decomposition and state variable feedback control of elastic robotic systems

Energy-efficient, lightweight robot arms for space applications have considerable structural flexibility. An approach to control of a class of flexible robotic systems is presented. A control law is derived which decouples the joint-angle motion from the flexible motion and, in addition, asymptotically decomposes the elastic dynamics into two subsystems. This allows the design of an elastic mode stabilizer independently based on lower order models representing structural flexibility. The closed-loop system is shown to be globally asymptotically stable and robust to uncertaintly in system parameters. Simulation results show that the combination of nonlinear decoupling and elastic stabilization permits rapid, accurate tracking of large joint angle commands with well damped elastic response, in spite of space vehicle motion and payload uncertainty.

Singh, S. N.↗

Feedback-Controlled Regulation of Gas Pressure

Internal pressure maintained over wide range of external pressures and exhaust rates. Gaseous pressure in liquid-nitrogen Dewar regulated by movable tapered plug, positioned automatically in response to signals generated by piezoelectric pressure transducer. Designed specifically to maintain airborne infrared detectors at constant temperature in evaporating liquid nitrogen, system modified to regulate pressure in other enclosed systems.

Smith, J. C.↗

A methodology for designing robust multivariable nonlinear feedback control systems

This paper presents an outline of a methodology for the design of nonlinear dynamic compensators for nonlinear multivariable systems with guarantees of closed-loop stability, robustness, and performance. The method is an extension of the Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian with Loop-Transfer-Recovery (LQG/LTR) methodology for linear systems, thus hinging upon the idea of constructing an approximate nonlinear inverse operator for the plant. A major feature of the method is a unification of both the state-space and Input-Output formulations. The major results of the paper are: (1) Properties of the solution of certain optimal control problems; (2) New results on nonlinear estimation, including a new nonlinear observer with certain guaranteed properties; (3) The Loop Operator Recovery (LOR) procedure, and (4) Inclusion of command-following and disturbance rejection with a goal of a closed-loop stable, robust system.

Grunberg, D. B.↗

Design for performance enhancement in feedback control systems with multiple saturating nonlinearities

A systematic control design methodology is introduced for multi-input/multi-output systems with multiple saturations. The methodology can be applied to stable and unstable open loop plants with magnitude and/or rate control saturations and to systems in which state limitations are desired. This new methodology is a substantial improvement over previous heuristic single-input/single-output approaches. The idea is to introduce a supervisor loop so that when the references and/or disturbances are sufficiently small, the control system operates linearly as designed. For signals large enough to cause saturations, the control law is modified in such a way to ensure stability and to preserve, to the extent possible, the behavior of the linear control design. Key benefits of this methodology are: the modified compensator never produces saturating control signals, integrators and/or slow dynamics in the compensator never windup, the directional properties of the controls are maintained, and the closed loop system has certain guaranteed stability properties. The advantages of the new design methodology are illustrated by numerous simulations, including the multivariable longitudinal control of modified models of the F-8 (stable) and F-16 (unstable) aircraft.

Kapasouris, Petros↗

Design of feedback control systems for stable plants with saturating actuators

A systematic control design methodology is introduced for multi-input/multi-output stable open loop plants with multiple saturations. This new methodology is a substantial improvement over previous heuristic single-input/single-output approaches. The idea is to introduce a supervisor loop so that when the references and/or disturbances are sufficiently small, the control system operates linearly as designed. For signals large enough to cause saturations, the control law is modified in such a way as to ensure stability and to preserve, to the extent possible, the behavior of the linear control design. Key benefits of the methodology are: the modified compensator never produces saturating control signals, integrators and/or slow dynamics in the compensator never windup, the directional properties of the controls are maintained, and the closed loop system has certain guaranteed stability properties. The advantages of the new design methodology are illustrated in the simulation of an academic example and the simulation of the multivariable longitudinal control of a modified model of the F-8 aircraft.

Kapasouris, Petros↗

Structural tailoring and feedback control synthesis - An interdisciplinary approach

Structural tailoring provides an attractive method to optimize the performance of actively controlled space structures. However, the simultaneous optimization of control gains and structural properties often becomes prohibitively expensive for large systems and physical insight is often lost in the resulting control law. This paper presents a method for optimization of the closed loop structural system using only structural tailoring. Optimal Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) control theory is used with weighting matrices chosen based on physical considerations. The LQR control law depends only on two scalar gains and the structural properties. Hence, the closed loop-performance can be expressed in terms of the structural parameters. Results are given for a beam and a truss-beam to show the simplicity of the method and the importance of structural tailoring to increase dynamic performance and to reduce the control effort.

Belvin, W. Keith↗

Design of feedback control systems for stable plants with saturating actuators

A systematic control design methodology is introduced for multi-input/multi-output stable open-loop plants with multiple saturations. This new methodology is a substantial improvement over previous heuristic single-input/single-output approaches. The idea is to introduce a supervisor loop so that when the references and/or disturbances are sufficiently small, the control system operates linearly as designed. For signals large enough to cause saturations, the control law is modified in such a way as to ensure stability and to preserve, to the extent possible, the behavior of the linear control design. Key benefits of this methodology are: the modified compensator never produces saturating control signals, integrators and/or slow dynamics in the compensator never windup, the directional properties of the controls are maintained, and the closed-loop system has certain guaranteed stability properties. The advantages of the new design methodology are illustrated in the simulation of an academic example and the simulation of the multivariable longitudinal control of a modified model of the F-8 aircraft.

Kapasouris, Petros↗

Optimal decentralized feedback control for a truss structure

One approach to the decentralized control of large flexible space structures involves the design of controllers for the substructures of large systems and their subsequent application to the entire coupled system. This approach is presently developed for the case of active vibration damping on an experimental large struss structure. The isolated boundary loading method is used to define component models by FEM; component controllers are designed using an interlocking control concept which minimizes the motion of the boundary nodes, thereby reducing the exchange of mechanical disturbances among components.

Cagle, A.↗

A variable-gain output feedback control design approach

A multi-model design technique to find a variable-gain control law defined over the whole operating range is proposed. The design is formulated as an optimal control problem which minimizes a cost function weighing the performance at many operating points. The solution is obtained by embedding into the Multi-Configuration Control (MCC) problem, a multi-model robust control design technique. In contrast to conventional gain scheduling which uses a curve fit of single model designs, the optimal variable-gain control law stabilizes the plant at every operating point included in the design. An iterative algorithm to compute the optimal control gains is presented. The methodology has been successfully applied to reconfigurable aircraft flight control and to nonlinear flight control systems.

Haylo, Nesim↗

Real-time cartesian force feedback control of a teleoperated robot

Active cartesian force control of a teleoperated robot is investigated. An economical microcomputer based control method was tested. Limitations are discussed and methods of performance improvement suggested. To demonstrate the performance of this technique, a preliminary test was performed with success. A general purpose bilateral force reflecting hand controller is currently being constructed based on this control method.

Campbell, Perry↗

Nonlinear feedback control for high alpha flight

Analytical aerodynamic models are derived from a high alpha 6 DOF wind tunnel model. One detail model requires some interpolation between nonlinear functions of alpha. One analytical model requires no interpolation and as such is a completely continuous model. Flight path optimization is conducted on the basic maneuvers: half-loop, 90 degree pitch-up, and level turn. The optimal control analysis uses the derived analytical model in the equations of motion and is based on both moment and force equations. The maximum principle solution for the half-loop is poststall trajectory performing the half-loop in 13.6 seconds. The agility induced by thrust vectoring capability provided a minimum effect on reducing the maneuver time. By means of thrust vectoring control the 90 degrees pitch-up maneuver can be executed in a small place over a short time interval. The agility capability of thrust vectoring is quite beneficial for pitch-up maneuvers. The level turn results are based currently on only outer layer solutions of singular perturbation. Poststall solutions provide high turn rates but generate higher losses of energy than that of classical sustained solutions.

Stalford, Harold↗