Infinite dimensional systems such as flexible airplane wings and Vertical Axis Wind
Turbine (VAWT) blades may require control to improve performance. Traditional
control techniques use position and velocity information feedback, but velocity information
for infinite dimensional systems is not easily attained. This research investigates
the use of reduced-sensing control for these applications.
Reduced-sensing control uses feedback of position measurements and an associated filter state to stabilize the system dynamics. A filter state is a nonphysical
entity that appends an additional ordinary differential equation to the system dynamics.
Asymptotic stability of a system using this control approach is confirmed
through a sequence of existing mathematical tools. These tools include equilibrium
point solutions, Lyapunov functions for stability and control, and Mukherjee and
Chen's Asymptotic Stability Theorem. This thesis research investigates the stability
of a beam representing an airplane wing or a VAWT blade controlled using feedback
of position and filter state terms only. Both of these infinite dimensional systems
exhibit asymptotic stability with the proposed reduced-sensing control design. Additionally,
the analytical stability response of the VAWT is verified through numerical
