An observer design technique for improving velocity estimation of a gimbal system

Abstract

This paper presents filter design techniques for the improved estimation of the velocity of the gimbal axis in a control moment gyro (CMG) actuator. In the motion control applications, the velocity sensor is not available but the estimation filters are often used due to the cost of the sensor. The first derivative filter technique is used most, but the filtering performance is not reliable for the accuracy requirement. The velocity observer is designed to estimate the velocity based on the modelling technique by the recursive least squares (RLS) method. Experimental results of estimating the velocity of the gimbal system in a CMG are conducted. The estimation performances are compared through the experimental data.