Utilization of a Kalman observer with large space structures.

Abstract

Control of the motions and vibrations of large space structures require the knowledge of state values that may not be ailable due either to inability to measure the states or, the high cost of the sensors to measure the required states. One lution is the use of an observer to estimate the states from limited sensor input. The physical characteristics of large space structures and the environment they operate in will cause large amounts of noise the measurements. The obvious observer for such an environment is the Kalman Filter which is specifically designed to oduce optimal estimates in a noisy environment. A straightforward application of the Kalman Filter will be examined utilizing a steady state Kalman gain matrix. The server performance will be examined in both matched filter/plant and reduced order filter configurations.