Active Vibration Control of a Large Space Antenna Structure Using Cable Actuator

Abstract

A large space antenna structure will inevitably vibrate due to the space thermal environment and maneuver actions of the satellite. Such vibration will last continuously and affect normal function of the antenna. Therefore, a proper vibration control method is vital to keep the shape accuracy of the structure within an acceptable range. The research object of this paper is a large deployable planar phased array antenna that uses cables as active actuators. Research contents include the optimization of actuator position and the design of control law: both of which have considered the unilateral and saturated constraints of the cable actuator. First, the finite element method is used to obtain the modal information of the structure. Then the actuator position optimization method is established by using the controllability principle and the particle swarm optimization algorithm. Second, a piecewise cost function is adopted to design the control law by combining a linear quadratic regulator with a bang–bang regulator. In the numerical simulation, the vibration control process of an antenna structure consisting of 18 lattices is simulated and analyzed. The results prove that the proposed actuator position optimization method and the control law could effectively suppress the vibration and maintain the shape accuracy of the antenna structure.