Adaptive Servo Control of Large Antenna Structures

Abstract

This contribution considers the design of servo tracking loops for large antennae structures which exhibit lightly damped flexible modes. A cascaded loop control structure employing performance oriented adaptive feedforward in the outer loop is developed. The procedures for designing the inner current (motor drive), rate loop and position loop as well as the adaptive feedforward compensator are presented. It is demonstrated that this constitutes a practical and robust solution to the problem of controlling servo tracking systems in the presence of non trivial resonances. The control structure provides excellent tracking of parabolic trajectories as well as disturbance rejection. The conclusi..