Robust systems design using dynamic small signal stability and linear programming for high-performance mechatronics

All realistic engineering systems operate in uncertain environments, and in some cases even small levels of noise can severely compromise their performance and stability. In this paper, we propose a robust design approach to improve the control performance of dynamic systems. Our proposed approach first specifies a set of linear constraints describing dynamic performance requirements based on pole placement, and develops a robust linear programming model which is solved to yield a parameter design that achieves the performance requirements under uncertainties. The advantage of our proposed approach is its computational efficiency since it reduces the problem to solving a small sequence of linear programming problems, and the proposed optimisation model can be embedded easily in a local search framework. The effectiveness of our proposed approach is verified xvith theoretical developments and computational studies on a typical high-performance mechatronic system; the hard disc drive. © Institution of Engineers Australia, 2014.