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Home > Articles & Tips > Actively Stabilized Flying Wing Plank Project > Active Stability Concepts

[Courtesy of Helmut Lelke, hlelke "at" worldnet.att.net, February 2002]

Active Stability Concepts

What is "Active Stabilization"?
Everyone is familiar with the simple act of balancing a yardstick on the tip of a finger. Attempts to balance the same yardstick on a table by standing it on end, however, will likely end in failure. The human being in the loop clearly adds the necessary ingredient to make the balancing trick work.

The human being adds the following three basic control system elements.

1. The first element is the motor supplying mechanical movements and forces.
2. The second is the sensor element which monitors movements of the thing being stabilized.
3. The third element is the intelligence which processes all sensor data and generates the required motor control commands.

Arm and hand movements perform the motor functions, eyes monitor the yardstick position and movements, and the sensor data (yardstick position and movement information) is received and processed by the brain (computer) which then generates commands to move the motor (arm and hand) to maintain the yardstick in balance.

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