System identification and H∞ synthesis for a non-colocated space structure control experiment

This paper documents a robust control design experiment in a technology demonstration for Advanced Reconfigurable Control (ARC). The objective of the experiment is to develop an integrated identification and robust synthesis methodology for vibration suppression of large space structures. The overall methodology has been partially implemented and evaluated on a complex flexible structure experiment at JPL. The identification approach is based on a recent frequency domain method which estimates both a state space model and an additive uncertainty weighting for robust control design (Bayard and Yam [13]). The control part is based on a novel H2 / H∞ approach with a hierarchical MIMO inner/outer loop design structure. This case study indicates that the integrated design methodology provides an effective approach to developing vibration controllers for large space structures, or related applications involving plants of commensurate complexity.