Robust Control System Synthesis for Space-Based Laser Beam Control

The complexity of large-scale dynamic systems provides a challenging proving ground for modern control system analysis and design techniques. High plant dimensionality inherent in large-scale systems can lead to breakdowns in numerics of state-space algorithms or intolerably long computational times, necessitating use of model reduction techniques. Reducing plant order consequently introduces unmodeled dynamics into the system, which must then be accounted for via stability robustness considerations. The applicability of modern mulivariable controller design techniques to large-scale systems is demonstrated herein by synthesis of a robust H¿ optimal compensator for a space-based laser forebody model using reduced order models.