Flexible structure control laboratory development and technology demonstration

An experimental structure is described which was constructed to demonstrate and validate recent emerging technologies in the active control and identification of large flexible space structures. The configuration consists of a large, 20 foot diameter antenna-like flexible structure in the horizontal plane with a gimballed central hub, a flexible feed-boom assembly hanging from the hub, and 12 flexible ribs radiating outward. Fourteen electrodynamic force actuators mounted to the hub and to the individual ribs provide the means to excite the structure and exert control forces. Thirty permanently mounted sensors, including optical encoders and analog induction devices provide measurements of structural response at widely distributed points. An experimental remote optical sensor provides sixteen additional sensing channels. A computer samples the sensors, computes the control updates and sends commands to the actuators in real time, while simultaneously displaying selected outputs on a graphics terminal and saving them in memory. Several control experiments were conducted thus far and are documented. These include implementation of distributed parameter system control, model reference adaptive control, and static shape control. These experiments have demonstrated the successful implementation of state-of-the-art control approaches using actual hardware

Parameterized macromodeling of passive and active dynamical systems

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Technology and regulation 2021

Technology and Regulation (TechReg) is an international journal of law, technology and society, with an interdisciplinary identity. TechReg provides an online platform for disseminating original research on the legal and regulatory challenges posed by existing and emerging technologies (and their applications) including, but by no means limited to, the Internet and digital technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, neurotechnology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, energy and climate change technology, and health and food technology. This book contains Volume 3 (2021) of the journal

Technology and regulation 2021

Technology and Regulation (TechReg) is an international journal of law, technology and society, with an interdisciplinary identity. TechReg provides an online platform for disseminating original research on the legal and regulatory challenges posed by existing and emerging technologies (and their applications) including, but by no means limited to, the Internet and digital technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, neurotechnology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, energy and climate change technology, and health and food technology. This book contains Volume 3 (2021) of the journal

The Fifth NASA/DOD Controls-Structures Interaction Technology Conference, part 2

This publication is a compilation of the papers presented at the Fifth NASA/DoD Controls-Structures Interaction (CSI) Technology Conference held in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, March 3-5, 1992. The conference, which was jointly sponsored by the NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology and the Department of Defense, was organized by the NASA Langley Research Center. The purpose of this conference was to report to industry, academia, and government agencies on the current status of controls-structures interaction technology. The agenda covered ground testing, integrated design, analysis, flight experiments and concepts

Building Indoor Air Temperature and Humidity Control via Innovative Techniques

In this thesis a novel Model Reference Adaptive Control approach, developed to tame the thermohygrometric behaviour of buildings and to guarantee the indoor comfort, is presented. The main advantages of the proposed method are: i) robustness with respect to a large class of perturbations, external disturbances, nonlinear unmodelled dynamics or parameters uncertainty; ii) ability to impose some given profiles to the thermohygrometric variables, iii) accurate regulation and fast tracking of indoor air temperature and humidity in the case of stringent requirements in special building spaces. In order to analyse the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control strategy, several case studies have been carried out. They refer to some reference buildings with different geometry, use and construction materials (also including phase change materials integrated into the building envelope) simulated in different weather conditions. In addition, the control of multi-zone thermal systems have been also considered in the relevant and innovative case of thermal zones completely included in others (e.g., an expo indoor space of a museum building including a display/case, special indoor hospitals spaces including multiple infant-incubators, etc.). Finally, model based control solutions have been designed for the control of the thermohygrometric dynamics in order to better point out the robustness of the adaptive solution to the computation of the required sensible loads. Results confirm the ability of the developed approach to achieve the selected indoor air temperature and humidity conditions in order to guarantee indoor comfort in uncertain conditions. In order to devise model based controllers, the design of a procedure for generating low order building models from detailed ones is proposed. The mismatch between the outputs of the simplified models with respect to those of the detailed ones have been measured quantitatively via a set of performance indexes. Results confirm that reduced order models of buildings can effectively predict i) indoor air temperature, ii) energy consumptions, iii) sensible heat demands, as well as iv) comfort of occupants (e.g., predicted mean vote, predicted percentage dissatisfied, and mean radiant temperature). Hence, they can be used not only for the design of advanced model based controllers, but also for i) reducing drastically the computation time to get an insight into building energy performance, especially when a large set of simulations are required, ii) deriving mathematical models of building dynamics via reverse engineering methods, when experimental data are available and iii) simulate cluster of buildings

NASA Aircraft Controls Research, 1983

The workshop consisted of 24 technical presentations on various aspects of aircraft controls, ranging from the theoretical development of control laws to the evaluation of new controls technology in flight test vehicles. A special report on the status of foreign aircraft technology and a panel session with seven representatives from organizations which use aircraft controls technology were also included. The controls research needs and opportunities for the future as well as the role envisioned for NASA in that research were addressed. Input from the panel and response to the workshop presentations will be used by NASA in developing future programs

Stochastic stability research for complex power systems

Bibliography: p. 302-311."November 1980." "Midterm report ... ."U.S. Dept. of Energy Contract ET-76-A-01-2295Tobias A. Trygar