Tuned Modal Control of a Space-Based Deployable Manipulator

Abstract

This paper develops an intelligent hierarchical controller for vibration control of a deployable manipulator. The emphasis is on the tuning of a low-level direct controller using an upper level knowledge-based tuner so as to improve the performance of the manipulator. In the present development, a conventional modal controller is used as the direct controller. First a fuzzy inference system (FIS) is developed for controller tuning. The FIS and the modal controller are integrated into a hierarchical control system for use with the deployable manipulator. An example is presented to illustrate the application of the hierarchical control system for suppressing vibrations caused by initial disturbance of a space-based deployable manipulator system. The simulation results show that the developed system is very effective in suppressing vibrations induced due to an initial disturbance at the tip of a manipulator module. Performance of the modal controller is significantly improved through knowledge-based tuning.