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At least 55 records · Page 3

Cartesian-based control of a deformable robot manipulator

A control scheme for the 6-DOF Cincinnati-Milacron T3 robot arm is developed and demonstrated by means of numerical simulations. The arm is modeled as an open-loop articulated system with both actuators and position and velocity sensors at each joint, and a Cartesian-frame control algorithm is constructed in which (1) an adaptive scheme decouples the end-effector subsystem from the complex highly nonlinear main system and (2) a servo scheme drives the reduced system to follow a presumed end-effector trajectory on the basis of the Cartesian-frame feedback gains. The velocity transformation used to transfer the control forces from the Cartesian frame to joint-based space is explained, and the simulation results are presented in extensive graphs and diagrams. The control is found to respond well to system-topology changes and robot-environment impacts.

Chang, C. W.↗

An analytical study of a six degree-of-freedom active truss for use in vibration control

An analytical study of the vibration control capabilities of three configurations of an active truss is presented. The truss studied is composed of two bays of an octahedral-octahedral configuration. The three configurations of the active truss studies are: all six battens activated (6 DOF), the top three battens activated (3 DOF), and the bottom three battens activated (3 DOF). The closed-loop vibration control response of these three configurations are studied with respect to: vibration attenuation, energy utilized, and the effects of motor drive amplifier saturation non-linearities.

Wynn, Robert H., Jr.↗

Estimating short-period dynamics using an extended Kalman filter

An extended Kalman filter is used to estimate the parameters of a low-order model from aircraft transient response data. The low-order model is a state-space model derived from the short-period approximation of the longitudinal aircraft dynamics. The model corresponds to the pitch rate to stick force transfer function currently used in flying qualities analysis. The parameters are estimated from flight data as well as from a 6-DOF nonlinear simulation of the aircraft. These two estimates are then compared, and the discrepancies noted. The low-order model is able to satisfactorily match both flight data and simulation data from a high-order computer simulation.

Bauer, Jeffrey E.↗

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↗

Analytical aerodynamic model of a high alpha research vehicle wind-tunnel model

A 6 DOF analytical aerodynamic model of a high alpha research vehicle is derived. The derivation is based on wind-tunnel model data valid in the altitude-Mach flight envelope centered at 15,000 ft altitude and 0.6 Mach number with Mach range between 0.3 and 0.9. The analytical models of the aerodynamics coefficients are nonlinear functions of alpha with all control variable and other states fixed. Interpolation is required between the parameterized nonlinear functions. The lift and pitching moment coefficients have unsteady flow parts due to the time range of change of angle-of-attack (alpha dot). The analytical models are plotted and compared with their corresponding wind-tunnel data. Piloted simulated maneuvers of the wind-tunnel model are used to evaluate the analytical model. The maneuvers considered are pitch-ups, 360 degree loaded and unloaded rolls, turn reversals, split S's, and level turns. The evaluation finds that (1) the analytical model is a good representation at Mach 0.6, (2) the longitudinal part is good for the Mach range 0.3 to 0.9, and (3) the lateral part is good for Mach numbers between 0.6 and 0.9. The computer simulations show that the storage requirement of the analytical model is about one tenth that of the wind-tunnel model and it runs twice as fast.

Cao, Jichang↗

Personnel launch system autoland development study

The Personnel Launch System (PLS) Autoland Development Study focused on development of the guidance and control system for the approach and landing (A/L) phase and the terminal area energy management (TAEM) phase. In the A/L phase, a straight-in trajectory profile was developed with an initial high glide slope, a pull-up and flare to lower glide slope, and the final flare touchdown. The TAEM system consisted of using a heading alignment cone spiral profile. The PLS autopilot was developed using integral LQG design techniques. The guidance and control design was verified using a nonlinear 6 DOF simulation. Simulation results demonstrated accurate steering during the TAEM phase and adequate autoland performance in the presence of wind turbulence and wind shear.

Bossi, J. A.↗

A new active virtual pivot six-degree-of-freedom hand controller for aerospace applications

During 1989 a new six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) active hand controller concept was designed and constructed based on the concept of a virtual pivot. This concept, labeled VPHC, was first demonstrated in a 1985 study and a patent was issued in 1990. Operator control input occurs via a force/torque sensor rigidly mounted to the handgrip. Sensed force/torque signals are used by microprocessors to generate motor drive control for each of six independently controlled motors mounted on the three-legged mechanism. The control microprocessor uses input biasing and rate-feedback motor controllers to generate the sensed feel of virtual springs and deadbands found in more conventional designs. An important advantage of this design is that the location of the virtual pivots, reflective forces and torques, breakout force levels, sensed spring rates, and operating modes, can be changed simply by changing the software. This approach yields an autonomous VPHC that can easily adapt itself to an individual operator (by software extension). A proof-of-concept version has been demonstrated, and further improvements are currently being studied and implemented.

Marshall, William C.↗

Experimental study of trajectory planning and control of a high precision robot manipulator

The kinematic and trajectory planning is presented for a 6 DOF end-effector whose design was based on the Stewart Platform mechanism. The end-effector was used as a testbed for studying robotic assembly of NASA hardware with passive compliance. Vector analysis was employed to derive a closed-form solution for the end-effector inverse kinematic transformation. A computationally efficient numerical solution was obtained for the end-effector forward kinematic transformation using Newton-Raphson method. Three trajectory planning schemes, two for fine motion and one for gross motion, were developed for the end-effector. Experiments conducted to evaluate the performance of the trajectory planning schemes showed excellent tracking quality with minimal errors. Current activities focus on implementing the developed trajectory planning schemes on mating and demating space-rated connectors and using the compliant platform to acquire forces/torques applied on the end-effector during the assembly task.

Nguyen, Charles C.↗

Statistical analysis of AFE GN&C aeropass performance

Performance of the guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) system used on the Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) spacecraft has been studied with Monte Carlo techniques. The performance of the AFE GN&C is investigated with a 6-DOF numerical dynamic model which includes a Global Reference Atmospheric Model (GRAM) and a gravitational model with oblateness corrections. The study considers all the uncertainties due to the environment and the system itself. In the AFE's aeropass phase, perturbations on the system performance are caused by an error space which has over 20 dimensions of the correlated/uncorrelated error sources. The goal of this study is to determine, in a statistical sense, how much flight path angle error can be tolerated at entry interface (EI) and still have acceptable delta-V capability at exit to position the AFE spacecraft for recovery. Assuming there is fuel available to produce 380 ft/sec of delta-V at atmospheric exit, a 3-sigma standard deviation in flight path angle error of 0.04 degrees at EI would result in a 98-percent probability of mission success.

Chang, Ho-Pen↗

Time and frequency-domain identification and verification of BO-105 dynamic models

Mathematical models for the dynamics of the DLR BO 105 helicopter are extracted from flight test data using two different approaches: frequency-domain and time-domain identification. Both approaches are reviewed. Results from an extensive data consistency analysis are given. Identifications for 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) rigid body models are presented and compared in detail. The extracted models compare favorably and their prediction capability is demonstrated in verification results. Approaches to extend the 6 DOF models are addressed and first results are presented. System identification is broadly defined as the deduction of system characteristics from measured data. It provides the only possibility to extract both non-parametric (e.g., frequency responses) and parametric (e.g., state space matrices) aircraft models from flight test data and therefore gives a reliable characterization of the dynamics of the actually existing aircraft. Main applications of system identification are seen in areas where higher accuracies of the mathematical models are required: Simulation validation, control system design (in particular model-following control system design for in-flight simulation), and handling qualities.

Kaletka, Juergen↗

Simulation of cooperating robot manipulators on a mobile platform

The dynamic equations of motion are presented for two or more cooperating manipulators on a freely moving mobile platform. The system of cooperating robot manipulators forms a closed kinematic chain where the force of interaction must be included in the formulation of robot and platform dynamics. The formulation includes the full dynamic interactions from arms to platform and arm tip to arm tip, and the possible translation and rotation of the platform. The equations of motion are shown to be identical in structure to the fixed-platform cooperative manipulator dynamics. The number of DOFs of the system is sufficiently large to make recursive dynamic calculation methods potentially more efficient than closed-form solutions. A complete simulation with two 6-DOF manipulators of a free-floating platform is presented along a with a multiple-arm controller to position the common load.

Murphy, Stephen H.↗

Passive dynamic controllers for non-linear mechanical systems

The objective is to develop active model-independent controllers for slewing and vibration control of nonlinear multibody flexible systems, including flexible robots. The topics are presented in viewgraph form and include: passive stabilization; work-energy rate principle; Liapunov theory; displacement feedback; dynamic controller; displacement and acceleration feedback; velocity feedback; displacement feedback; physical interaction; a 6-DOF robot; and simulation results.

Jer-Nan Juang↗

Adaptive control of space-based robot manipulators

A control method is presented that achieves globally stable trajectory tracking in the presence of uncertainties in the inertial parameters of the system. The 15-DOF system dynamics are divided into two components: a 9-DOF invertible portion and 6-DOF noninvertible portion. A controller is then designed to achieve trajectory tracking of the invertible portion of the system, which consists of the manipulator-joint positions and the orientation of the base. The motion of the noninvertible portion is bounded but otherwise unspecified. This portion of the system consists of the position of the robot's base and the position of the reaction wheels. A simulation is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the controller. A quadratic polynomial is used to generate the desired trajectory to illustrate the trajectory-tracking capability of the controller.

Walker, Michael W.↗

Autonomous pre-alignment of a docking mechanism

The subject project can be described as the development and testing of a digitally controlled docking mechanism. The mechanism consists of a 6 DOF parallel manipulator for docking interface pre-alignment, and a machine vision sensor for real-time target tracking. The parallel manipulator also can be used for capture/latching, energy attenuation, and structural rigidization of docking, but the scope of this paper is the proof-of-concept demonstration of autonomous pre-alignment of a docking mechanism using machine vision.

Carroll, Monty B.↗

A binocular stereo approach to AR/C at the Johnson Space Center

Automated Rendezvous and Capture requires the determination of the 6 DOF relating two free bodies. Sensor systems that can provide such information have varying sizes, weights, power requirements, complexities, and accuracies. One type of sensor system that can provide several key advantages is a binocular stereo vision system.

Fisher, Timothy E.↗

NASA MSFC hardware in the loop simulations of automatic rendezvous and capture systems

Two complementary hardware-in-the-loop simulation facilities for automatic rendezvous and capture systems at MSFC are described. One, the Flight Robotics Laboratory, uses an 8 DOF overhead manipulator with a work volume of 160 by 40 by 23 feet to evaluate automatic rendezvous algorithms and range/rate sensing systems. The other, the Space Station/Station Operations Mechanism Test Bed, uses a 6 DOF hydraulic table to perform docking and berthing dynamics simulations.

Tobbe, Patrick A.↗

Autonomous prealignment of a docking mechanism

Proposed future space exploration, such as lunar and Martian expeditions, will require autonomous docking of space vehicles. One proposed candidate method of autonomous docking utilizes a actively controlled parallel manipulator. Operation of the proposed docking manipulator can be segmented into four successive events: prealignment, capture/latching, attenuation, and structural rigidization. This paper discusses the development and testing of a digitally controlled, six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF), parallel manipulator for the prealignment segment of a docking spacecraft.

Carroll, Monty B.↗

Results of prototype software development for automation of shuttle proximity operations

A Rendezvous Expert System (REX) was implemented on a Symbolics 3650 processor and integrated with the 6 DOF, high fidelity Systems Engineering Simulator (SES) at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The project goals were to automate the terminal phase of a shuttle rendezvous, normally flown manually by the crew, and proceed automatically to docking with the Space Station Freedom (SSF). The project goals were successfully demonstrated to various flight crew members, managers, and engineers in the technical community at JSC. The project was funded by NASA's Office of Space Flight, Advanced Program Development Division. Because of the complexity of the task, the REX development was divided into two distinct efforts. One to handle the guidance and control function using perfect navigation data, and another to provide the required visuals for the system management functions needed to give visibility to the crew members of the progress being made towards docking the shuttle with the LVLH stabilized SSF.

Hiers, Harry K.↗