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ALPHATECH, INC.
Phone: (617) 273-3388
ALPHATECH, INC. PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED DECENTRALIZED MULTIVARIABLE CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN METHODOLOGY FOR PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE ROBUST REAL-TIME CONTROL OF VERY LARGE FLEXIBLE SPACE STRUCTURES (VLFSS). A CRUCIAL NEED EXISTS FOR THE DEFINITION OF A SUPERIOR ARCHITECTURE OF SUCH CONTROL SYSTEMS AND THE REALTIME COORDINATION OF THE DECENTRALIZED MULTIVARIABLE CONTROLLERS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL USE BOTH STATE-SPACE AND FREQUENCY DOMAIN TOOLS; IT WILL INTEGRATE CONCEPTS FROM REGULAR PERTURBATION THEORY (WEAK DYNAMIC COUPLING), SINGULAR PERTURBATION THEORY (FREQUENCY SEPARATION BETWEEN RIGID-BODY AND FLEXURE MODES), AND SINGULAR-VALUE BASED STABILITY/-ROBUSTNESS ANALYSIS. THE THEORY WILL EXPLOIT THE UNIQUE PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF A LARGE CLASS OF VLFSS, WITHOUT DEPENDING ON UNRELIABLE MODELS OF HIGH-FREQUENCY LIGHTLY-DAMPED MODES. THE RESULT OF THE PHASE I RESEARCH WILL BE A PRACTICAL DESIGN METHODOLOGY OF IMMEDIATE USE IN SEVERAL SPACE PROGRAMS.
* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *