INTEGRATED ACTIVE SPACE STRUCTURES CONTROL DESIGN

SYSTEMS CONTROL TECHNOLOGY WILL DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED CONTROL/ACTIVE STRUCTURE DESIGN TECHNIQUE USING H-INFINITY SYNTHESIS TO INTEGRATE THE DESIGN OF PRECISION POINTING AND ACTIVE SUPPORT CONTROLLERS. SCT WILL PROVIDE AN INNOVATIVE PROCEDURE TO DESIGN HIGH-PERFORMANCE LOW-MASS SPACE SYSTENS WHICH WILL COMBINE ACTIVE STRUCTURAL/CONTROL AND THE H-INFINITY DESIGN METHOD, ELIMINATE CONFLCITING SEQUENTIAL CONTROL DESIGN GOALS, AND OPTIMIZE INTEGRATED SYSTEM PERFORMANCE. IN PHASE I, SCT WILL DESIGN A CONTROL LAW TO DEMONSTRATE IMPROVED DISTURBANCE-REJECTION PROPERTIES IN A SUBCELL OF A SEGMENTED PRECISION MIRROR SYSTEM. IN PHASE II, SCT WOULD MODEL THE SEGMENTED OPTICAL STRUCTURE WITH ACTIVE STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS AND WILL DEMONSTRATE AN INTEGRATED DESIGN OF THE OPTICAL ALIGNMENT AND STRUCTURAL CONTROL SYSTEMS. SINCE THIS APPROACH COMBINES TWO PROVEN TECHNIQUES, USING EXISTING HARDWARE, IT WILL PROVIDE UNPRECEDENTED IMPROVEMENTS IN FLEXIBLE STRUCTURE CONTROL.