Real-time vibration suppression in a flexible cantilever rig

The computational aspect in the design of direct digitally controlled solut ions for flexible beam systems is investigated. Parallel processing is used to achieve the real-time computing requirements needed for an effective ac tive damping in an experimental rig system. The overall computational task is partitioned into sub-tasks that are mapped onto a parallel computer syst em, so that real-time control performances can be realised. The paper prese nts several computing architectures developed to address the vibration supp ression problem and the computational timing requirements from processing, communication and idling viewpoints are discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.