Sensor/actuator placement for flexible space structures

A new approach for the placement of sensors and actuators in the active control of flexible space structures is developed. The approach converts the discrete nature of sensor and actuator positioning problems to a nonlinear programming optimization through approximation of the control forces and output measurements by spatially continuous functions. The locations of the sensors and actuators are optimized in order to move the transmission zeros of the system further to the left of the imaginary axis. This criterion for sensor/actuator placement can be useful for optimal regulation and tracking problems, as well as for low authority controller designs. Two performance metrics are considered for the optimization and are applied to the sensor/actuator positioning of a large-order flexible space structure