IMPLEMENTATION OF MODERN CONTROL METHODS IN ALTAIR ACTIVATE
Effective control of complex mechanical systems is a topic of continued research and development across numerous industrial verticals. The device, its operational environment, sensor capabilities and limitations, and various other constraints inform a control engineer on the best strategy for system control. Over the years, methods beyond the proportional-derivative-integral (PID) controllers have been developed to account for highly nonlinear systems with complex kinematics operating under feedback constraints. The control logic for these techniques needs to be tested prior to full operational release, often requiring costly hardware-in-the-loop setups.
In this paper, we discussed implementation methods for three such “modern” control techniques: pole placement, linear quadratic regulators, and Kalman filtering. We utilized Altair Activate (version 2021) in co-simulation with Altair MotionSolve (version 2021) to design, simulate, and validate these control strategies employed on a common, simulated mechanical plant model.