Attitude control of a flexible launch vehicle using an adaptive notch filter: Ground experiment

Attitude control of a flexible launch vehicle using adaptive notch filtering with real-time control is addressed in this paper. An experimental ground model is developed to verify the stability of the adaptive control technique based upon an adaptive notch filter. The experimental setup simulates the planar motion of a flexible launch vehicle as a coupled dynamics of rigid-body pitch motion and flexible vibration. The adaptive notch filter, which updates the filter parameters continuously from a sensor measurement, is implemented in real-time. The principal purpose of this study is to apply the adaptive notch filter algorithm in a feasibility study to assess its practical implementation. Through this experimental study, it was found that an adaptive controller in the form of an adaptive notch filter successfully stabilizes the uncertain and time-varying launch vehicle model dynamics via a thrust vector control.