Control of flexible structures with spillover using an augmented observer

Modern modal control methods for flexible structures have control and observation spillover that can degrade performance and reduce the stability margin of the closed-loop controlled structure. The sensor output is often filtered to reduce observation spillover; however, the filter introduces signal distortion and perturbs the closed-loop system eigenvalue locations. This perturbation can reduce the stability margin and jeopardize convergence of a deterministic observer. If the filter equations are not explicitly included in the observer design, then the separation principle between the controller and the observer states no longer holds when present in the unfiltered system. A new method is presented where the observer equations are augmented to include a first-order filter dynamics. The separation principle, controllability, and observability of the unfiltered system are invariant to the filter dynamics in this new method, resulting in no perturbation of controlled system eigenvalue locations. The filter cutoff frequency can be located even within the bandwidth of the system, thereby increasing the filter effectiveness in reducing observation spillover. Spillover-generated errors in closed-loop eigenvalues of these control methods are compared using a numerical example. (Author)