Adaptive Control for a Microgravity Vibration Isolation System

Abstract

Most active vibration isolation systems that try to a provide quiescent acceleration environment for space-science experiments have utilized linear design methods. In this paper, we address adaptive control augmentation of an existing classical controller that combines a high-gain acceleration inner-loop feedback together with a low-gain position outer-loop feedback to regulate the platform about its center position. The control design considers both parametric and dynamic uncertainties because the isolation system must accommodate a variety of payloads having different inertial and dynamic characteristics. An important aspect of the design is the accelerometer bias. Two neural networks are incorporated to adaptively compensate for the uncertainties within the acceleration and the position loop. A novel feature in the design is that high-band pass and low pass filters are applied to the error signal used to adapt the weights in the neural network and the adaptive signals, so that the adaptive processes operate over targeted ranges of frequency. This prevents the inner and outer loop adaptive processes from interfering with each other. Simulations show that adaptive augmentation improves the performance of the existing acceleration controller and at the same time reduces the maximal position deviation and thus also improves the position controller.