Improved integrated structural control design using covariance control parameterization

This paper investigates multiobjective integrated control/structure design using covariance control to parameterize the controller. An advantage of this approach is that the control objectives can be specified as a set of competing analytical goals or constraints instead of a single scalar cost function. From this formulation, a multiobjective numerical optimization problem is formulated to execute the integrated control-structure design. The performance of this approach is investigated on a simple disturbance rejection problem in which the control objectives and the structural design objectives conflict. The integrated design optimization both increases control performance and decreases the structural mass with a counterintuitive design. In addition, these results add to previous work that demonstrates the protential of integrated design optimization of structures and controllers. It then appears that when the structure and controller are considered simultaneously, the resulting combination is an improved design. However, the extent of the design improvement is apparently problem dependent.