Simultaneous structure and control design for a flexible pointing system actuated by active materials

A methodology for simultaneous structure and motion specific tasks with its associated control system is presented in this paper. The methodology is based on the authors' trajectory pattern method (TPM) [1994]. The advocated methodology is illustrated on an important class of problems, namely flexible slewing structures. The class of systems considered encompasses multilink manipulators, high speed positioning stages, and pointing systems to name a few. Specifically, the simultaneous structure and motion specific methodology is applied to a flexible pointing system with added piezoelectric ceramic actuators for vibration damping and pointing purposes.