Extended State Observer Based Controller Design for the Green Bank Telescope Servo System

The Green Bank Telescope is a large flexible structure, requiring rms tracking error ≤ 3 arcseconds against internal and external disturbances. We design an extended state observer (ESO) based controller in various configurations to improve tracking performance and increase disturbance rejection. The controllers are simulated with an experimentally validated model of the GBT. Through the simulations, the response of ESO based controllers and legacy PID controller are compared using time and frequency domain responses. We show that the ESO based controller when implemented in both position and velocity loop can give significant improvement in tracking performance and better disturbance rejection without increase in controller output.