Actuator limited robust controller design for smart structures using linear matrix inequalities

Smart Structural systems have gained lot of importance now-a-days and have found to have applications in several areas especially in the areas of aerospace, automotive and space applications. One of the essential aspects involved in the integration of smart structures is that of the control system design. Actuator limitation poses as a major obstacle in the real-time implementation of controllers for smart structural systems. This paper gives an account of the application of a controller design procedure to handle control input limitation problem in the design of controllers for smart structures. This procedure, called the limit protection design approach, uses a two-step design procedure to design a control system to achieve graceful degradation of performance in the presence of control input limitation. The solution of the limit protection compensator involves solving a set of bilinear matrix inequalities (BLMIs). An iterative procedure is given for the solution of the BLMIs. Finally, we give the simulation results got from applying the above said procedure on an experimental smart structure.