Development of an adaptive two degree of freedom control system for weapon systems with an new piezoceramic actuation device

One of the major sources of pointing error in turreted weapon systems such as the Apache helicopter and the M1A1 tanks is the barrel vibration. This vibration is due to aggressive firing and high speed retargeting and maneuvering of the turret. Testbeds have been developed at U.S Army Research Laboratories to study various control algorithms for vibration suppression and pointing of these systems. In this SBIR effort, a two degrees-of-freedom adaptive (learning) control systemis proposed for vibration suppression and pointing purposes under aggressive firing and maneuvering. The approach is based on the Simultaneous Control and Motion Pattern Specific Optimal System Design (SCMPSOSD). Furthermore, a new piezoelectric ceramic actuator is proposed for added control and actuation. A prototype of the actuator will be developed and tested with the advocated control design. The Trajectory Pattern Method(TPM) based technique allows for optimal simultaneous control and structure design with optimal locations for the sensors and actuators. Through the two degrees-of-freedom architecture of the proposed control algorithm, high performance with an acceptable robustness property will be attained. Furthermore, the special architecture of the proposed control design is suitable as a low cost optimal performance digital control technology especially designed for precision fire-on-the-move applications.