Flexlab’s purpose is to model a real-world flexible structure environment while allowing for a wide range of modeling and control techniques. This thesis discusses how Flexlab was further expanded with LabVIEW software to become an even more adaptable environment for ease of real-world testing.
The first chapter of this thesis discusses the history of Flexlab. Flexlab’s main component is a 3/8 inch, 12 foot long aluminum rod. The purpose of the size of the rod is to provide a very flexible structure to perform experiments, modeling and control.
The second chapter of this thesis describes all of the hardware and software components that make up Flexlab. Understanding the input and output hardware components is critical to ensure that effective software is written.
The third chapter of this thesis describes the software design and development. How the software was designed and how it meets the goals of this thesis is discussed.