SENSOR ACTUATOR PLACEMENT FOR FLEXIBLE SPACE STRUCTURES

A new approach for the placement of sensors and actuators in the activ e control of flexible space structures is developed. The approach conv erts the discrete nature of sensor and actuator positioning problem to a nonlinear programming optimization through approximation of the con trol forces and output measurements by spatially continuous functions. The locations of the sensors and actuators are optimized in order to move the transmission zeros of the system farther to the left of the i maginary axis. This criterion for sensor/actuator placement can be qui te useful for optimal regulation and tracking problems, as well as for low authority controller designs. Two performance metrics are conside red for the optimization and are applied to the sensor/actuator positi oning of a large-order flexible space structure.