Advanced polynomial trajectory design for high precision control of flexible servo positioning systems

This paper develops a new approach for the design of polynomial-based reference and feedforward control trajectories for the high precision control of flexible servo actuators. First, a robust frequency-domain controller is designed for reference tracking and disturbance rejection. This controller is designed to achieve a desirable loop shape with reasonable bandwidth and stability margins. Then, the polynomial trajectories are derived based on a simplified rigid body representation of the system. To avoid the excitation of the system's resonant modes, this paper proposes the design and implementation of a set of feedforward notch filters. We further investigate the main cause of tracking error resulted from the rigid body approximation, and propose an alternative model for the derivation of the polynomial input trajectories. This model accounts for the cumulative DC gain of the resonant modes ignored in the rigid body approximation. A method for deriving the new polynomial trajectories with the appropriate initial and final time conditions is developed and evaluated for a representative flexible servo system model. Simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme provides significant improvement in the performance of system compared to the conventional methods.