Sequential Design of Decentralized Dynamic Compensators using the Optimal Projection Equations: An Illustrative Example Involving Interconnected Flexible Beams

A straightforward and natural application of reduced-order control-design methods is to design decentralized controllers by viewing each subcontroller as a reduced-order controller for the augmented system comprised of the plant and all other subcontrollers. A suitable reduced-order control-design method for this purpose is the optimal projection approach because of its reliability in yielding stable controllers and because it is based upon an optimality criterion which serves as a convenient convergence indicator. The approach is illustrated on an interconnected flexible beam example.