9310735 Bernstein The Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan will purchase a real-time control processor and related diagnostic equipment which will be dedicated to support research in control-system engineering. The equipment will be used for several research projects, including in particular: control of unstable plants, control with actuator constraints, control of rotating spacecraft, control of acoustic vibration, control of flexible structures, and control of fluids. Control -system technology is an enabling technology for many complex, high performance systems. In many of these applications the control system is so essential that the system simply cannot operate without it. On the other hand, failure of the control system can have dire consequences. Graphic examples include the Chernobyl disaster and Airbus crashes. In view of the importance and risks of control-system technology, this proposal seeks laboratory equipment in the form or real-time control processor and related diagnostic equipment to allow researchers to carry out a broad range of experiments in feedback control technology. The proposed real-time processor is the central piece of equipment needed to carry out closed-loop control experiments. With this equipment, new control laws represented in a high level language can be transformed into real-time assembly code for high-speed execution. This capability will allow researchers to implement linear and nonlinear controllers designed for a variety of applications. Among the projects that will utilize the equipment are two projects that focus on fundamental problems in feedback technology, namely, control of unstable plants and control with actuator constraints, as well as four projects that focus on specific applications, namely, control of spacecraft, acoustics, structures, and fluids. ***
