TY - GEN
T1 - Structural effects and techniques in precision pointing and tracking systems - A tutorial overview
AU - Hilkert, J. M.
AU - Amil, David L.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Structural dynamics is one of the most important elements of a precision gimbal design which often dominates the system line-of-sight stabilization and pointing performance. Structural effects are manifested in these systems in several unrelated ways that the systems engineer, and other members of the design team, must understand in order to insure a successful design. Once the effects are clearly understood, analysis techniques, such as finite elements, can be applied to provide models to accurately predict the various interactions and evaluate potential designs. Measurement techniques such as modal analysis can also be used to obtain models of existing hardware and to verify the design. However, the successful and efficient application of the above process requires that the underlying principles and effects are well understood by all the members of the engineering design team. This usually includes, as a minimum, the control systems engineer, the structural analyst and the mechanical engineer but may involve other members of the design team as well. Appropriate transfer functions for the various interactions, for example, can be defined and provided by the structural analyst to the control system engineer to evaluate and performance predictions can be iterated as necessary until the entire system meets the required performance in the intended dynamic environment. Often, however, one or more members of the team do not have an appreciation for the effects or design process required and the result is a frustrated design effort and lower system performance that might have otherwise been easily achieved. While different systems can have vastly different requirements and configurations, the above effects and techniques are common to most and this paper is an attempt to provide a straightforward outline of the more common of these in order to improve communication among design team members so that they can all contribute at their maximum potential.
AB - Structural dynamics is one of the most important elements of a precision gimbal design which often dominates the system line-of-sight stabilization and pointing performance. Structural effects are manifested in these systems in several unrelated ways that the systems engineer, and other members of the design team, must understand in order to insure a successful design. Once the effects are clearly understood, analysis techniques, such as finite elements, can be applied to provide models to accurately predict the various interactions and evaluate potential designs. Measurement techniques such as modal analysis can also be used to obtain models of existing hardware and to verify the design. However, the successful and efficient application of the above process requires that the underlying principles and effects are well understood by all the members of the engineering design team. This usually includes, as a minimum, the control systems engineer, the structural analyst and the mechanical engineer but may involve other members of the design team as well. Appropriate transfer functions for the various interactions, for example, can be defined and provided by the structural analyst to the control system engineer to evaluate and performance predictions can be iterated as necessary until the entire system meets the required performance in the intended dynamic environment. Often, however, one or more members of the team do not have an appreciation for the effects or design process required and the result is a frustrated design effort and lower system performance that might have otherwise been easily achieved. While different systems can have vastly different requirements and configurations, the above effects and techniques are common to most and this paper is an attempt to provide a straightforward outline of the more common of these in order to improve communication among design team members so that they can all contribute at their maximum potential.
KW - Finite element analysis
KW - Gimbal
KW - Gyro stabilization
KW - Line-of-sight stabilization
KW - Modal analysis
KW - Structural dynamics
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/77953803218
U2 - 10.1117/12.849836
DO - 10.1117/12.849836
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:77953803218
SN - 9780819481603
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Automatic Target Recognition XX; Acquisition, Tracking, Pointing, and Laser Systems Technologies XXIV; and Optical Pattern Recognition XXI
T2 - Automatic Target Recognition XX; Acquisition, Tracking, Pointing, and Laser Systems Technologies XXIV; and Optical Pattern Recognition XXI
Y2 - 5 April 2010 through 8 April 2010
ER -