Int J Intell Robot Appl (2017) 1:306–326
DOI 10.1007/s41315-017-0025-7
REGULAR PAPER
Structural control using a deployable autonomous control system
Kevin Goorts1 • Stephen Phillips1 • Ali Ashasi-Sorkhabi1 • Sriram Narasimhan1
Received: 23 December 2016 / Accepted: 13 June 2017 / Published online: 3 July 2017
Ó Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017
Abstract Structural control devices facilitate the con-
struction of lightweight structures by suppressing excessive
vibrations that arise from the reduced self-weight. Most of
the current structural control systems are permanent
installations designed to control particular structural prop-
erties and are hence specific to a particular application.
This paper presents a novel concept of a deployable,
autonomous control system (DACS) targeting specific
applications where short-term vibration mitigation is
desired. These applications may include control of existing
structures during predictable extreme loading events or
temporary structures where the need for vibration mitiga-
tion depends on usage characteristics. This control system
consists of an electromechanical mass damper (EMD)
mounted on an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) equipped
with vision sensors. The mobility of the UGV combined
with on-board vision sensors facilitates autonomous posi-
tioning of the device at any desired location of the struc-
ture. This allows the device to update its position on the
structure as required, through a simultaneous localization
and mapping (SLAM) solution, to effectively control dif-
ferent structural modes. The performance of the SLAM
solution is evaluated using a full-scale pedestrian bridge
while the ability of the proposed system to re-position itself
to control various modes of vibration is studied through
real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS). The experimental
results confirm the ability of the proposed system to
effectively control large amplitude motion in slender
bridges, while being able to position itself at the
& Sriram Narasimhan
sriram.narasimhan@uwaterloo.ca
1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
123
appropriate locations for multi-modal control. The concept
of the overall system presents promising results for appli-
cations where temporary control is desired.
Keywords Autonomous robotics  EKF-SLAM  Active
structural control  Mobile control system
1 Introduction
In recent years, the use of lightweight building materials
such as aluminum has gained considerable traction in civil
engineering, driven by cost savings and the capacity to
create modern, aesthetically pleasing structures. The
unique design process associated with these structures
emphasizes constructability and minimizing material use.
Although this approach yields efficient designs from a
strength perspective, well-known consequences of reduced
self-weight include a reduction in the structure’s inherent
system level damping and lower natural frequencies. This
increase in dynamic sensitivity leads to structures that are
prone to excessive vibrations and often require vibration
mitigation strategies to satisfy serviceability requirements.
In some cases, lightweight structures are capable of with-
standing day-to-day loads but require short-term vibration
mitigation during predictable, peak-loading events such as
large crowds or wind-storms. On the other hand, advances
in lightweight building materials and construction methods
has given rise to temporary structures such as pedestrian
bridges which are designed specifically for short-term use
(access to large events or marathons). In this case, the need
for vibration mitigation depends on the end-use of the
structure and as such, permanent vibration mitigation
measures may be considered impractical. These examples
motivate the development of a control system which can
Structural control using a deployable...
provide a relatively large control bandwidth and is suit-
able for temporary use on a range of structures (in the
operating control bandwidth of the robot) as needed.
Most control systems for bridge applications are per-
manent installations, often tuned to one design level event.
This means that the control design must be informed using
a high-fidelity model (finite-element) of the bridge. In this
paper, the concept of a deployable autonomous control
system (DACS) that can achieve similar control perfor-
mance, especially for lightweight temporary applications,
without an a priori model of the structure is presented. To
be considered deployable, the system shall provide a suf-
ficiently large control bandwidth to effectively control a
range of structures and be easily integrated with minimal
modification to the structure by eliminating the need for a
rigid (fixed) connection to transfer forces. The autonomy
aspect requires the ability to determine the desired control
force and corresponding point of application based on the
measured response and a global control objective. A fully
autonomous control system will have the capacity to
position itself at the desired location on the structure and
update its position as required. The proposed DACS con-
sists of an electromagnetic mass damper (EMD) mounted
on an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) which is equipped
with forward and rear-facing vision sensors. With some
modifications to the hardware, this device can be mounted
either underneath a bridge on a railing system or driven
directly on a sidewalk if there is minimal traffic. The
DACS may also be advantageous during the construction
phase or for temporary military applications. A prototypi-
cal DACS has demonstrated effective control on a full-
scale 16.7 m, 1800 kg pedestrian bridge. Hence, one of
these units may be required for approximately every two
metric tons of structure mass. The novel aspect of this
concept is that only the approximate weight of the bridge
(to determine the number of units) and an estimate of the
modal frequencies of interest are needed for its imple-
mentation. The main objectives of this paper are to intro-
duce this idea, present the background theory and dynamics
of such a system, and address the associated implementa-
tion challenges.
The deployability aspect of the proposed DACS was
recently studied (Goorts et al. 2016). This work involved
experimental determination of transfer function models to
characterize and compensate for the interaction of UGV
dynamics and EMD control and culminated in a prelimi-
nary controller design. The proposed system was shown to
provide effective control for a SDOF system without the
need for a rigid connection to transfer forces. In fact, the
presence of the UGV body dynamics was shown to mag-
nify inertial forces generated by the EMD. The current
paper builds upon this previous work by developing the
autonomy aspect of the proposed DACS and demonstrating
307
the suitability of the system for immediate, but temporary
vibration mitigation of lightweight bridges. It is important
to emphasize that this paper presents the concept of such a
robotic system; the exact implementation would require
modifications to the hardware to suitably locate the device,
for example on side walks if present, or using hangers
underneath a bridge. Such details are considered outside
the scope of this study.
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first application of
a robot for structural control. However, there have been
numerous applications of structural control during the last
three decades. Passive control systems have been widely
used for vibration suppression in bridges due to their
simple design and ease of implementation (Housner et al.
1997; Soong and Spencer Jr 2002; Spencer Jr and
Nagarajaiah 2003); However, passive devices lack adapt-
ability and only provide reliable vibration suppression of a
desired frequency. As a result, several devices are required
to suppress different structural modes (Ming et al. 2001;
Ubertini 2010). Active and semi-active systems feature the
ability to adapt to varying structural properties or loading
conditions and have demonstrated superior control effect
compared to passive devices (Soong and Spencer Jr 2000;
Spencer Jr and Nagarajaiah 2003). Although these systems
can be designed to suppress different modes of vibration,
the location of the control force remains constant due to the
permanent nature of the device and dependence on a rigid
connection to transfer forces. As such, a trade-off exists
between the position of the device and control performance
for each mode. In cases where the dominant mode is known
a priori, the trade-off is well defined and control devices
can be positioned appropriately. However, in some cases,
the nature of the loading dictates the dominant mode of
vibration and several devices are required in order to
control varying modes. This is particularly the case in
slender pedestrian bridges where small groups or large
groups of pedestrians could excite entirely different modes
(Dey et al. 2016). In applications where the need for
vibration mitigation is temporary, the use of several per-
manent devices is largely redundant and could be alleviated
by positioning one or two control devices to the appropriate
locations as needed. This inspires the development of a
mobile control system that is capable of autonomously
positioning itself at the desired location on a structure.
Achieving autonomy requires two of the most central
tasks in autonomous robotics: localization, the process of
estimating the UGV’s position as it navigates through a
known environment, and mapping, the construction of a
map of the environment based on estimated locations of
landmarks (Thrun et al. 2005). When navigating an
unknown environment such as an existing bridge, the UGV
must build a map of the environment while concurrently
using the same map to localize itself (Durrant-Whyte and
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Bailey 2006). This is a fundamental problem in mobile
robotics addressed using SLAM, an acronym for simulta-
neous localization and mapping (Durrant-Whyte et al.
1996).
Widely regarded as one of the most notable successes in
robotics over the past two decades, the SLAM problem has
been formulated and solved in many different forms. One
of the most common solution methods based on the work
by Smith et al. (1990) utilizes an extended Kalman filter
(EKF) and is known as EKF-SLAM. In EKF-SLAM, the
standard two-step prediction-correction update procedure
associated with the EKF is used to provide estimates of the
UGV’s position and location of all landmarks in the map.
All SLAM solutions require the use of sensors to observe
the surrounding environment. Although the most com-
monly used sensors are laser-based or sonar-based (Aulinas
et al. 2008), the release of the Microsoft Kinect sparked
significant interest in vision-based sensors which are rela-
tively inexpensive, readily available, and offer additional
visual information (Chi et al. 2014; Kamarudin et al.
2014).
Over the past two decades, robotic technologies have
experienced significant advancements in civil engineering
applications including construction automation and struc-
tural health monitoring, but are yet to be shown promising
for structural control. For the specific case of UGV tech-
nologies applied to civil applications, most of the research
is related to bridge inspection and structural health moni-
toring. For example, Valls Miro et al. (2011) developed a
multi-tracked UGV system to aid in the inspection of
concrete box girders. The UGV was equipped with a
camera to collect high-resolution images of the concrete
structure that could be used to visually assess the structural
integrity without entering the confined space. In this study,
navigation was based solely on dead-reckoning and an off-
line solution to the SLAM problem was used to correct the
estimated states. An autonomous robotic system has also
been developed for non-destructive bridge deck inspection
and evaluation (La et al. 2013). In this work, a UGV was
utilized as a platform to transport sensing equipment and
featured the ability to autonomously traverse a rectangular
bridge area. SLAM was not applied in this study but rather
GPS and other sensors were fused using an EKF-based
localization algorithm to track a desired trajectory. The
application of SLAM to specifically map existing struc-
tures (bridges, buildings) is novel and is associated with
unique challenges not yet studied by the robotics commu-
nity. For example, many lightweight bridges are modular in
nature which from a SLAM perspective means identical
features may be repeated throughout the environment.
Furthermore, exploration of the bridge will be confined to a
straight line which limits the ability to observe features
from different viewpoints and may lead to convergence
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K. Goorts et al.
issues in the map. The main issues addressed in this paper
are the implementation of a general SLAM algorithm
suitable for mapping a range of structures with sparse or
repeated features and autonomous positioning of the pro-
posed DACS at the desired location on the structure. To the
authors’ knowledge this paper presents the first application
of an autonomous robot for structural control.
A schematic of the proposed DACS including front and
side profiles is shown in Fig. 1. Instead of using a rigid
connection, the active control force generated by the EMD
is transferred through the wheels of the UGV to the
structure. For mapping existing structures and autonomous
positioning, an EKF-SLAM algorithm and EKF-based
localization method are employed using an open-source
robotic platform, described in later sections. To aid in data
association, two Kinect sensors are mounted on the UGV.
These inexpensive sensors are well suited for this appli-
cation where vision is beneficial for accurate landmark
identification.
In the next section, the prototypical DACS is introduced
along with detailed descriptions of each component. A
summary of the system dynamics and design of an active
controller is provided followed by the framework of EKF-
SLAM and details on implementing the mapping and
localization methods. Experimental validation of the EKF-
SLAM implementation and autonomous positioning is
presented for a full-scale pedestrian bridge. Lastly, the
main conclusions from this work and topics for future
studies are summarized.
2 Description of DACS components
The DACS presented herein has four main components: an
UGV for mounting the control device and enabling
mobility, vision sensors to aid in autonomous navigation,
an EMD with auxiliary mass unit for generating control
forces, and compact computational hardware with real-time
processing capabilities. Figure 2 shows the main compo-
nents of the DACS, each of which is explained in detail
next.
Unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) A modified Husky
A200 built by Clearpath Robotics is utilized as the UGV
(Clearpath Robotics 2014). This is a rugged, yet compact
skid-steered vehicle capable of achieving a peak linear
velocity of 1.0 m/s. The UGV has a self-weight of 50 kg
and features an additional payload capacity of 75 kg which
is sufficient for the EMD, sensors, and computational
equipment. In addition to providing traction and minimiz-
ing slip, the large 300 mm lug tread tires provide sufficient
static friction in the lateral direction to prevent sliding and
generate control action. As a skid-steered vehicle, there are
no axles to connect the left and right wheels. Instead, the
Structural control using a deployable...
Fig. 1 Schematic of DACS
prototype
(a)
(a)
Fig. 2 Components of DACS prototype
front and back wheels on each side are connected and
driven independently of the other side. Driving the wheels
on each side at different rates causes the vehicle to skid and
turn in the direction of the slower wheels. Skid-steered
systems are known for providing greater traction and do
not require a steering mechanism which is beneficial for
transferring control forces. The vehicle features an internal
storage compartment, ideal for housing computational
equipment and a large flat surface for mounting an EMD.
The vehicle also features front and rear bumper bars which
are suitable for mounting the vision sensors. The UGV is
equipped with high resolution quadrature encoders
(200,000 pulse/m) and can be controlled using multiple
options including direct voltage, wheel speed, or kinematic
velocity. The platform also provides ready integration with
the open source robot operating system (ROS) which
enables the use of several sensor types and position control
algorithms.
Vision sensors The SLAM solution is meant to be
simple, low-cost, and suitable for a range of structures.
Hence, forward and rear facing Kinect sensors were
selected to extract landmarks and provide the associated
measurements (i.e., range and bearing). Microsoft initially
309
(b)
(b)
launched the Kinect in 2010 as a vision-based controller for
the Microsoft Xbox 360 video game console. The device
consists of several sensors including a RGB sensor to
provide colour images of the environment and 3D depth
sensor with infrared transmitter to detect the depths of the
corresponding objects in the RGB images. Since the RGB
and depth sensors are not located at the same position,
calibration is required to remove distortions and align the
images (Chi et al. 2014). OpenNI, an open-source frame-
work in ROS to interact with digital devices, includes an
automated calibration procedure. This method, based on
viewing a checker-board pattern in various orientations,
was used to calibrate both of the Kinect sensors. Although
Microsoft has not released official hardware specifications
for the sensor, the PrimeSense micro-controller used to
process the image reports a operating range of 0.8–3.5 m
with a field of view of 58° horizontal, 45° vertical, and 70°
diagonal. The spatial resolution and depth resolution at a
distance of 2 m from the sensor are 3 and 10 mm,
respectively. Although the Kinect sensor is well suited for
indoor experimental development (which is the case in this
study), it does not perform well in outdoor lighting con-
ditions. However, the modifications in an outdoor
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application should be simply to replace Kinect with a more
suitable vision sensor.
Electromechanical mass driver (EMD) The relatively
small footprint and the desire to eliminate mechanical
moving parts such as gears in an active mass damper unit
necessitated the use of an EMD. A Parker Automation T3D
I-force ironless linear motor positioner powered by a
Gemini Gv6K servo drive serves as the EMD in this paper.
The linear motor, shown in Fig. 3, consists of a carriage
attached to a current carrying coil which moves through a
magnetic field created by a series of permanent magnets.
The carriage is fitted with a mounting plate for adding
auxiliary mass up to a max payload of 54 kg. Control
forces up to 410 N are generated through inertia of the
moving mass which can reach speeds up to 7 m/s. The
position of the carriage along the 180 mm stroke is mea-
sured using a linear magnetic encoder with 0.005 mm
resolution. Contrary to most EMD control applications
which rely on electro-mechanical models to predict the
force-voltage relationship (Zhang and Ou 2015; Moon
et al. 2004), the T3D linear motor positioner operates
under position-feedback control and is commanded using
digital quadrature encoder signals. This control method
offers improved motion profile tracking and control over
end-of-stroke limits, but lacks a direct mathematical rela-
tionship between the controller input and desired force.
Earlier work on the proposed DACS led to a controller
design based on system dynamics and transfer function
models of the interaction between the EMD and UGV
(Goorts et al. 2016). This controller design will be utilized
in this study to control the EMD.
Computational hardware All required monitoring and
processing tasks as well as the execution of control loops
for the EMD are performed on a National Instruments (NI)
cRIO 9063 that resides on-board the UGV. The cRIO has a
667 MHz dual-core processor and field programmable gate
array (FPGA) for high-speed, deterministic, and secure
data transfer. Individual NI modules are incorporated to
acquire acceleration data (NI-9234 analog input), force
measurements (NI-9237 analog bridge input), and
Fig. 3 Components of electromechanical mass driver
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K. Goorts et al.
communicate with the EMD servo drive (NI-9403 digital
IO). An on-board ROS-enabled laptop controls the position
of the UGV and processes sensor information. The EKF-
SLAM algorithm and localization method can also be
executed on the on-board laptop. A TCP data link was
created to establish communication between the cRIO and
ROS-enabled laptop. This link ensures control is not being
applied while the UGV is in motion.
3 Control strategy and system dynamics
Consider the following equation of motion for an actively
controlled multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) system
xðtÞ þ CxðtÞ
M€ _ þ KxðtÞ þ EðtÞfa ðtÞ ¼ wðtÞ ð1Þ
where x represents the system displacement vector, fa is the
active control force, w models the external disturbance, and
M, C, and K are the system mass, damping, and stiffness
matrices respectively. The mobility aspect of the DACS
allows the position of the control force to change over time.
This is accounted for in Eq. 1 by adopting a piece-wise
constant location matrix EðtÞ that changes depending on the
position of the device. In many active control systems, the
desired control force is computed as a linear combination of
the states (state-feedback control) and used directly as the
command signal to the actuator. However, for the proposed
DACS, the control force generated by the EMD is filtered
through the UGV dynamics prior to being applied to the
structure. As such, determination of the desired EMD force
requires consideration of the UGV dynamics. By assuming
no slippage of the wheels and linear behaviour over the
relatively narrow frequency range of (0–5 Hz), the UGV can
be approximated as a linear system with mass, damping, and
stiffness components. To include compensation for UGV
dynamics, consider the equation of motion given in Eq. 1
expressed in the Laplace domain:
ðMs2 þ Cs þ KÞxðsÞ þ EFa ðsÞ ¼ WðsÞ ð2Þ
Here, the applied control force can be expressed as the
product of the EMD force FEMD and transfer function
model of the UGV dynamics HUGV :
Fa ðsÞ ¼ HUGV ðsÞFEMD ðsÞ ð3Þ
Using the inverse of the UGV model, the desired EMD
force F^EMD can be computed from the desired control force
F^a :
F^EMD ðsÞ ¼ fHUGV ðsÞg1 F^a ðsÞ ð4Þ
There are two modes of operation for the EMD: force
feedback and position feedback. Implementing force
feedback requires direct force measurements which are
Structural control using a deployable... 311

prone to errors in inertial force applications. Position PEMD ðsÞ ¼ fHUGV ðsÞg1 fHEMD ðsÞg1 F^a ðsÞ ð10Þ
feedback is far simpler due to the readily available encoder
outputs and features more robustness to noise (can be As shown in Eq. 10, inverse transfer function models of the
commanded using digital signals) and drift prevention UGV dynamics and EMD behaviour are required for
capabilities. Nevertheless, in position feedback, achieving position feedback control of the DACS. In previous work
the desired force is significantly more complex and on the proposed system, the inverse transfer function
requires a relationship between the desired force and models were identified experimentally and are included
command position. A mathematical model relating the two here for the sake of completeness Goorts et al. (2016):
quantities can be derived based on DC motor theory. For an
s3 þ 129:4s2 þ 2876s þ 216900
applied voltage ea , the model for a DC linear motor relating fHUGV ðsÞg1 ¼
0:0128s3 þ 8:495s2 þ 2514s þ 278700
the developed force fm and position xm is given by
ð11aÞ
Ki Ki Kb La
fm ðtÞ ¼ ea ðtÞ  x_m ðtÞ  f_m ðtÞ ð5Þ 0:007907s  0:2605
Ra Ra Ra fHEMD ðsÞg1 ¼
0:0142s3 þ 4:470s2 þ 2:984s þ 0:5107
where Ra is the resistance, La is the inductance, and Ki and ð11bÞ
Kb are the force and back electromagnetic force (EMF)
constants respectively. Since there are no external damping It should be noted that consideration of control-structure
or stiffness elements present in the EMD, the generated interaction (CSI) is required for complete system modeling.
motor force is transferred to the inertial force and internal CSI describes the dynamic coupling between the deploy-
frictional losses. Hence, the relationship between the gen- able control system and supporting structure. Studies on
erated force and acceleration of inertial mass is given by active control systems such as hydraulic actuators (Dyke
et al. 1995) and EMDs (Zhang and Ou 2008) have indi-
ma x€m ðtÞ ¼ fm ðtÞ  Bm x_m ðtÞ ð6Þ cated the negative implications related to performance and
control robustness as a result of un-modeled CSI effects.
where ma and Bm represent the actuated mass and coeffi-
However, the effect of CSI on the proposed control system
cient of viscous friction respectively. The relationships in
is rather unique due to the presence of additional UGV
Eqs. 5 and 6 can be expressed in state-space with current,
dynamics and the lack of a rigid connection to the struc-
velocity, and displacement states as:
2 3 ture. This uniqueness warrants a separate investigation into
2 3 Ra Kb 2 3 213 the effects of CSI on the DACS and is reserved for a
0
i_a ðtÞ 6 La La 7 i a ðtÞ separate study.
6 7 6 K B 76
74 x_m ðtÞ 7
6 La 7
4 x€m ðtÞ 5 ¼ 6
6 i m 7 5þ6 7
4 0 5ea ðtÞ
4 m 0 5
x_m ðtÞ a ma xm ðtÞ 3.1 General control strategy
0
0 1 0
ð7Þ The overall control strategy for the DACS consists of three
main components: sensing, positioning, and control. The
The state space model can be used directly to compute sensing component involves continuous monitoring of the
system transfer functions; However, these models do not applied loading and/or dynamic response to make decisions on
include the effect of closed-loop dynamics (i.e., feedback the ideal position for the device. Changes in the desired posi-
control) which in most cases requires experimental deter- tion triggers the positioning component which relies on a
mination. Alternatively, by modeling the relationship as a localization method to autonomously navigate to the new
rational transfer function, the desired EMD force can be control position. Lastly, upon reaching the desired location, the
related to the motor position using: control component takes over to actively suppress vibrations.
FEMD ðsÞ ¼ HEMD ðsÞPEMD ðsÞ ð8Þ A schematic of the active control component developed
for the DACS prototype is shown in Fig. 4. The controller
where HEMD is a transfer function model that includes the consists of a feedback control algorithm connected in series
effects of both motor dynamics and feedback control and PEMD with the inverse UGV transfer function and inverse EMD
is the EMD motor position. Rearranging Eq. 8 for control model. The objective of the controller is to compute the
purposes yields an expression for the command position PEMD : appropriate EMD position commands to minimize the
PEMD ðsÞ ¼ fHEMD ðsÞg1 F^EMD ðsÞ ð9Þ dynamic response. The feedback control algorithm first
determines the desired control force based on the measured
Combining Eqs. 4 and 9 yields the overall relationship response. Then, the effect of UGV dynamics is compensated
between the desired control force and EMD position for by passing the desired control force through the inverse
command: transfer function model of the UGV. This yields the desired

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Fig. 4 Schematic of active controller for DACS
EMD force which is then passed through the inverse EMD
model to compute the corresponding position command.
The controller is capped by a saturation block, limiting the
position commands applied to the servo drive, in order to
avoid actuator stroke overload and force saturation. The
servo drive contains the motor position feedback control
loop. Here, the motor position measured by the magnetic
encoders is compared with the desired motor position and
the error is used to control the current supply to the motor.
3.2 Feedback control algorithm
In structural control applications a well-known trade-off
exists between control performance and robust stability. In
general, higher control authority tends to improve control
performance but uncertainties in the system model have
potential to severely degrade performance and even cause
instabilities if the authority is too high (Spencer Jr et al.
1994). The linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller is
widely-used to address this trade-off and has been covered
in great detail, even in the structural control literature. For
the sake of completeness, a brief overview of the algorithm
is summarized below.
To start, consider the state-space representation of the
MDOF system presented in Eq. 1
_ ¼ AZðtÞ þ Bfa ðtÞ þ wðtÞ
ZðtÞ  ð12Þ
_ T is the state vector and w
where Z ¼ ½x x  represents the
process noise including external disturbances. The corre-
sponding state and input matrices are given by:
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K. Goorts et al.
   
0 I 0
A¼ ; B¼
M1 K M1 C M1 E
Since the states (i.e., position and velocity) of the system
are generally unknown and difficult to measure, LQG
control relies on the separation principle to combine a
Kalman filter for state estimation with a linear quadratic
regulator (LQR) (Anderson and Moore 2007). Accord-
ingly, the desired control force f^a is a linear function of the
estimated states Z~ defined by a controller gain matrix Gc :
f^a ðtÞ ¼ Gc Z~ ð13Þ
The performance index J is employed to optimize the level
of regulation with control effect
Z 1
J¼ ½Z~T ðtÞQZðtÞ
~ þ faT ðtÞRfa ðtÞdt ð14Þ
0
where matrices Q and R are designed to penalize errors in
the states and control effect respectively. Minimization of J
leads to the following expression for the controller gain
matrix
1
Gc ¼  R1 BT H ð15Þ
2
where H satisfies the matrix algebraic Riccati equation:
AT H þ HA  HBR1 BT H þ Q ¼ 0 ð16Þ
As shown in the above formulation, the LQG controller can
easily be tuned via the matrices Q and R to achieve a
desired control objective. The inclusion of the piece-wise
constant location matrix E in the input matrix allows new
control gains to be calculated corresponding to the current
position of the device on the structure.
4 SLAM and autonomous positioning using DACS
This section presents the probabilistic framework for the
SLAM problem and details of the EKF-SLAM solution
method. Implementation details pertaining to the use of the
proposed DACS to map a full-scale pedestrian bridge are
provided including an overview of the localization
scheme for autonomously positioning the device for
control.
4.1 Probabilistic framework for SLAM
Several unique mathematical frameworks have been used
to model the SLAM problem. Of these frameworks, the
probabilistic representation is the most widely used and has
since become standard (Durrant-Whyte and Bailey 2006).
Although other representations have resulted in alternative
Structural control using a deployable...
solutions to the SLAM problem than those that arise from
the probabilistic representation, there is no evidence that
these alternatives outperform the probabilistic approach in
practical SLAM scenarios (Skrzypczynski 2009). In the
probabilistic framework, the system state xk is composed of
the robot pose state xRk and the feature map state xM k . The
underlying assumption of the probabilistic framework is
that the system state can be represented by a probability
density function (PDF) at every time step k. This proba-
bility distribution of the system state is the joint posterior
PDF of the system state given all observations z0:k , and
control inputs u0:k up to time k (Skrzypczynski 2009).
Mathematically, this posterior probability distribution is
expressed as: pðxk jz0:k ; u0:k ; x0 Þ.
When posed in this manner, the solution to the SLAM
problem becomes one of finding this posterior distribution,
or belief of xk . The most general algorithm for calculating
this belief is given by the Bayes filter (Thrun et al. 2005).
The Bayes filter is a recursive filter, where the believed
state xk is first predicted based on the history of control
inputs u0:k1 and observations z0:k1 , and then corrected by
current observations zk . Mathematically, this sequential
‘prediction-correction’ recursive estimation is given as
(Durrant-Whyte and Bailey 2006):
Prediction update:
pðxk jz0:k1 ; u0:k ; x0 Þ
Z noise with covariances Rk and Qk , respectively (Durrant-
¼ pðxk jxk1 ; uk Þ  pðxk1 ; mjz0:k1 ; u0:k1 ; x0 Þdxk1
ð17Þ
Measurement update:
pðzk jxk ; mÞpðxk ; mjz0:k1 ; u0:k ; x0 Þ
pðxk ; mjz0:k ; u0:k ; x0 Þ ¼
pðzk jz0:k1 ; u0:k Þ
ð18Þ
In these equations, the term pðxk jxk1 ; uk Þ is often referred
to as the ‘motion model’ or ‘state transition probability’, as
it describes the probability distribution on state transitions.
Additionally, the term pðzk jxk ; mÞ is referred to as the
‘observation model’, as it describes the probability of
making an observation zk given a believed state xk . It is
assumed that the robot follows a Markov process, where
the state xk depends only on the preceding state xk1 , and
the applied control force, uk (i.e., state transition is inde-
pendent of the landmark observations) (Durrant-Whyte and
Bailey 2006).
Solving the full SLAM problem is only required when
the robot states and map states are unknown. If a map of
the environment is known, the problem reduces to one of
localizing the robot within the map. Such a scenario exists
after a map has been created with SLAM and the robot
needs to navigate to a desired position. In this case, known
313
map states denoted xM are used in the estimation of robot
states and the goal becomes finding the probability distri-
bution pðxRk jz0:k ; u0:k ; xM Þ. On the other hand, if the robot
state is assumed to be known, the problem becomes one of
constructing a map based on the robot’s position denoted
xR and measurement data. Here, the problem is re-formu-
lated such that the goal is to find the probability distribution
pðxM R Þ (Durrant-Whyte and Bailey 2006).
k jz0:k ; u0:k ; x
4.2 EKF-SLAM
One implementation (among many others) of the generic
Bayes filter algorithm for solving the probabilistic SLAM
problem is EKF-SLAM. In EKF-SLAM, the believed state
(i.e., the posterior PDF) is assumed to be a multivariate
normal distribution (Gaussian), which is characterized by a
mean x^kjk , and a covariance Pkjk . The generic probability
distributions for the motion model and observation model
in Eqs. 17 and 18 respectively can be described by non-
linear state space equations with added Gaussian noise,
such that they are of the form:
pðxk jxk1 ; uk Þ () xk ¼ gðxk1 ; uk Þ þ wk ð19Þ
pðzk jxk ; mÞ () zk ¼ hðxk Þ þ vk ð20Þ
where wk and vk represent process noise and measurement
Whyte and Bailey 2006). However, with this representation,
the assumption that the belief is Gaussian is violated, as the
nonlinear functions g and h invalidate the Gaussian prop-
erties of the posterior probability distribution. To circumvent
this problem, linear approximations to the non-linear func-
tions are constructed using a first-order Taylor expansion.
As a result, the non-linear motion model and observation
model are approximated by Eqs. 21 and 22 respectively:
gðxk1 ; uk Þ  gð^
xk1jk1 ; uk Þ þ Gk ðxk1  x^k1jk1 Þ
ð21Þ
hðxk Þ  hð^
xkjk1 Þ þ Hk ðxk  x^kjk1 Þ ð22Þ
where x^k1jk1 and x^kjk1 denote the mean of the belief
distribution at k  1 and mean of the prior belief distribu-
tion at k respectively. The term Gk ¼ g0 ð^ xk1jk1 ; uk Þ is the
Jacobian of g evaluated at the estimate x^k1jk1 . Similarly,
Hk ¼ h0 ð^xkjk1 Þ is the Jacobian of h evaluated at the esti-
mate x^kjk1 (Thrun et al. 2005). The approximated motion
and observation models implies the EKF-SLAM algorithm
only approximates the Gaussian belief distribution. Since a
Gaussian distribution can be characterized by a mean and
covariance, the goal of the EKF is to efficiently estimate
the mean x^k and covariance Pk , as opposed to computing
the exact posterior (i.e., pðxk jz0:k ; u0:k ; x0 Þ).
123
314
The two-step prediction-correction scheme of a generic
EKF is presented below in the context of SLAM. In the
prediction update, the belief distribution for the robot states
xRk is updated given known control input. Since the belief is
assumed to be Gaussian, this is accomplished by updating
the mean x^Rk and covariance Pk of the distribution. In
general, the map states are assumed to be static and as such
are not included in the prediction update. Thus, only the
robot states xRk and corresponding entries in the covariance
matrix, denoted PRR
k are updated. The EKF-filter equations
for updating the mean and covariance of the robot states are
given by:
x^Rkjk1 ¼ gð^
xRk1jk1 ; uk Þ ð23Þ
T
PRR RR
kjk1 ¼ Gk Pk1jk1 Gk þ Rk ð24Þ
In the correction update, measurements to features are used
to improve estimates of both the robot states and map
states. The degree to which the measurements are incor-
porated in the new state estimate is defined by the Kalman
gain Kk :
Kk ¼ Pkjk1 HTk ðHk Pkjk1 HTk þ Qk Þ1 ð25Þ
The observation model is used to compute the difference
between the actual and expected measurements (i.e.,
innovation). This error, calculated as zk  hð^
xkjk1 Þ, is
multiplied by the Kalman gain to correct the state esti-
mates. The EKF equations for the correction update are
given by:
x^kjk ¼ x^kjk1 þ Kk ðzk  hð^
xkjk1 ÞÞ ð26Þ
Pkjk ¼ ðI  Kk Hk ÞPkjk1 ð27Þ
4.3 Implementation of EKF-SLAM using the DACS
EKF-SLAM was implemented on the proposed DACS with
the intended purpose of creating a map of an unknown
structure than can later be used for localization. The
implementation was tailored for a pedestrian bridge but can
be applied to other structures with only minor modifica-
tions. The main challenges and key aspects of the algo-
rithm are described below.
Landmark extraction and data association Landmark
extraction is the process of identifying distinguishable
features in the environment that can be used to develop the
overall map. The type of landmarks that are extracted and
corresponding map that is produced depends on both the
type of sensors being used and the nature of the sur-
rounding environment. Data association involves finding
correspondences between the landmarks that already exist
in the global map and those that are currently visible to the
123
K. Goorts et al.
UGV. When landmarks are not simple points it is possible
for them to appear different from different view-points,
presenting a fundamental problem in data association.
The sparsity and repetitive nature of modular structures
compounds the existing challenges in landmark extraction
and data association. If the SLAM solution relies solely on
the structure itself for mapping and ignores the surrounding
environment which may not remain constant, landmarks
may only be derived from structural elements or permanent
attachments. Using a landmark extraction method designed
to map individual structural elements, will be highly sus-
ceptible to false correspondences in data association. On
the other hand, if all of the elements on one side of the
bridge are grouped as a single line landmark, the algorithm
will lack measurement data to correct the longitudinal
position of the UGV. To overcome these limitations and
develop a landmark extraction scheme that is suitable for a
range of structures, individual tags containing unique
augmented reality (AR) codes are placed on the structure.
This standardizes the landmarks, facilitates efficient data
association, and significantly reduces the likelihood of false
correspondences. The Kinect sensors mounted on the
DACS can detect the AR codes using the RGB image and
provide measurements to the tag by incorporating the depth
image. Figure 5 illustrates the placement of AR codes on a
full-scale aluminum pedestrian bridge. In EKF-SLAM, the
number of states to be estimated is proportional to the
number of landmarks in the estimated map plus the states
of the UGV. As such, a trade-off exists between the
number of tags added to the bridge and computational
complexity. In particular, too few tags may not provide
sufficient measurement information for convergence where
as too many tags may lead to time delays in the algorithm.
Exploration scheme In any SLAM application, an
exploration scheme is required to navigate the robot
through the unknown environment and ensure the entire
area is explored. For this study, a straight-forward explo-
ration scheme that tracks the center-line of the bridge is
Fig. 5 Use of AR codes to standardize landmarks
Structural control using a deployable...
proposed. However, this will vary depending on the
application, for example, this could also be the center-line
of a side walk. The UGV is commanded with a constant
forward velocity and a proportional-derivative (PD) con-
troller is used to command angular velocity to correct the
heading of the vehicle. With AR tags on both sides of the
bridge, the desired trajectory is marked by the midpoint
between two tags directly across from each other. The
exploration continues until no more new features are
identified at which point the UGV is stopped. This explo-
ration method lets the placement of tags dictate the desired
trajectory and as such can be applied to a wide range of
structures including curved bridges.
Loop-closure Loop closure is central to the convergence
of the SLAM problem and is achieved when a landmark is
re-observed after significant travel. In EKF-SLAM, state
uncertainty continues to grow until loop closure is achieved
(Thrun et al. 2005; Durrant-Whyte and Bailey 2006). Upon
achieving loop closure, the estimates of all states improve
based on the correlation information that is stored in the
covariance matrix. Achieving full loop-closure on a pedes-
trian bridge with a forward facing sensor requires travel to
the far end of the bridge and a return trip back to the starting
point. Not only does this process require a large amount of
time, it also results in a significant travel distance before
achieving loop closure during which large amounts of
uncertainty may accumulate. The loop-closure problem
motivates the use the second, rear-facing Kinect sensor.
When traveling forward, landmarks are first extracted and
initialized based on measurements from the forward-facing
Kinect sensor. After continuing in the same direction, the
same landmark is re-observed, this time from the rear-facing
sensor. As a result, a partial loop-closure is achieved for the
landmarks that have been seen up to that point. Continuing
in this fashion results in a series of incremental partial loop-
closures that progressively improve the state estimates.
Motion model The motion model for the proposed
DACS is derived from the kinematic model of the skid-
steered UGV. Let the robot state vector xRk ¼ ½Xg ; Yg ; wg Tk
contain the global position coordinates ðXg ; Yg Þ of the
vehicle’s center of mass (COM) and yaw angle wg . By
commanding kinematic velocities, the control input vector
uk ¼ ½vx ; xg Tk contains the linear and angular velocities.
Kinematic modeling of skid-steer vehicles has been studied
to various degrees (Pazderski et al. 2004; Wang et al.
2009; Kozlowski and Pazderski 2004). Based primarily on
the work by Pazderski et al. (2004), the kinematic model
for the UGV is given by:
2 3 2 3
X_ g cos wg xICR sin wg  
6 Y_ 7 6 7 vx
4 g 5 ¼ 4 sin wg xICR cos wg 5 ð28Þ
xg
w_ g 0 1
315
where xICR is the projection of the instantaneous center of
rotation (ICR) on the local x-axis. Figure 6 illustrates the
local and global frames of reference and projection of the
ICR. As the name implies, the ICR is the point about which
the vehicle rotates at any given instant. The projection of
the ICR on the x-axis forms the relationship between
commanded angular velocity and the y-component of local-
frame velocity vy :
vy ¼ xg xICR ð29Þ
For the skid-steered UGV, the location of the ICR and
corresponding x-projection changes with varying ratios of
forward and angular velocity inputs. However, to reduce
modeling complexities, the x-projection is assumed to be
constant. This assumption implies the ratio between for-
ward and angular velocity commands is constant. With the
UGV traveling predominantly in a straight line with min-
imal steering, this assumption was shown to have negligi-
ble impact on the state estimates.
Using the kinematic model in Eq. 28, the motion model
and Jacobian can be expressed as follows:
xRk1jk1 ; uk Þ
gð^
2 3
Xg;k1 þ ðvx;k cos wg;k1 þ xg;k xICR sin wg;k1 Þdt
6 7
¼ 4 Yg;k1 þ ðvx;k sin wg;k1  xg;k xICR cos wg;k1 Þdt 5
wg;t1 þ xg;t dt
ð30Þ
0
Gk ¼ g xRk1jk1 ; uk Þ
ð^
2 3
1 0 ðvx;k sin wg;k1 þ xg;k xICR cos wg;k1 Þdt
6 7
¼ 40 1 ðvx;k cos wg;k1 þ xg;k xICR sin wg;k1 Þdt 5
0 0 1
ð31Þ
Measurement models Dead reckoning methods based on
wheel encoders and IMU’s suffer from integration and
Fig. 6 Coordinate systems for UGV motion model
123
316 K. Goorts et al.

accumulation of erroneous signals (i.e., drift). In EKF-

SLAM, absolute position measurements to landmarks can
be used to correct this drift. The main challenge associated
with incorporating position measurements involves syn-
chronization of the measurements with the corresponding
UGV states. In some cases, measurements from vision
sensors experience time delay associated with processing
the image and associating it to a landmark in the map. The
delayed measurements then get used to correct the current
state of the UGV which may have been updated since the
instant the images were recorded.
For the proposed DACS, encoder data from the UGV
and measurements to the AR tags from the Kinect sensors
are used in the correction update. For skid-steered UGVs,
encoder information is rarely used due to large errors
caused by wheel slippage. However, since the vehicle
Fig. 7 Schematic of measurement model for Kinect sensor
travel is predominantly in a straight line, the encoder
measurements in the longitudinal (local-x) direction are
where the global distance components are computed using:
only marginally biased by wheel slippage. The same does
not apply to the lateral (local-y) or UGV heading and as dxik ¼ XG;k
i
 XG;k ð34aÞ
such, only the longitudinal data is used in the update.
Furthermore, to prevent the accumulation of error over dyik ¼ YG;k
i
 YG;k ð34bÞ
large travel distances, incremental encoder measurements Since each measurement depends on a single landmark,
opposed to absolute data are used. In this way, instances of independent updates can be performed one feature at a
wheel slippage only affect the current update and are time. Linearizing the above measurement model with
removed from memory for future updates. The measure- respect to the UGV states and ith landmark states leads to
ment model for the incremental change in the local-x Jacobian used for computing the Kalman gain:
position is given by:
Hiknct;k ¼ hiknct ð^
xkjk1 Þ
Xg;k  Xg;k1 2 3
henc ð^
xk1jk1 ; x^kjk1 Þ ¼ ð32Þ dxk dyik
i
dxik dyik
cos Wg;k1 6 ri 0 0 ... 0 0 ::: 07
6 k rki rki rki 7
¼6 7
The forward and rear-facing Kinect sensors detect the AR 4 dyik dxik dyik dxik 5
1 0 ... 0 0 ::: 0
codes and provide range and bearing measurements relative ðrki Þ2 ðrki Þ2 ðrki Þ2 ðrki Þ2
to the sensor’s local frame. The raw measurements from ð35Þ
each sensor are first transformed to the global coordinate
frame as shown in Fig. 7. The Kinect sensor can accurately
detect AR codes up to a maximum distance of 4 m; how- 4.4 Position updating using EKF-based localization
ever, experimental testing determined measurement error
increases beyond a range of 3 m. Similarly, tags can be After a sufficient map of the bridge has been obtained using
detected across the full field of view of the sensor but image SLAM, the UGV can localize to any commanded location
distortion near the edges of the field of view cause increases on the structure. As shown in the probabilistic formulation,
in measurement error. In an effort to reduce measurement the localization problem involves using a known map xM to
error, raw range measurements greater than 3 m or less than estimate the robot state xRk . Mathematically this equates to
0.5 m were rejected from the update. Figure 7 depicts a finding the posterior probability distribution
R M
sketch of the measurement model for the Kinect sensor. pðxk jz0:k ; u0:k ; x Þ. For simplicity, and to maintain the
Mathematically, the model contains range and bearing aspects of landmark extraction and data association
measurements to a unique point landmark i with believed implemented in SLAM, an EKF-based localization algo-
global coordinates ðXgi ; Ygi Þ and is expressed as: rithm is used. The EKF-SLAM equations for the prediction
2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 3 and correction updates can be adopted for localization
6 ðdxik Þ2 þ ðdyik Þ2 7  i  simply by reducing the state vector and replacing the
  r
xkjk1 Þ ¼ 6
hiknct ð^ 4 1 dyik
7¼ k
5 ð33Þ believed map states with the known landmark locations.
tan  wg;k bik Subsequently, the same two-step prediction-correction
dxk i
scheme is used to first predict the robot state and then

123
Structural control using a deployable...
correct based on encoder and AR tag measurements.
Autonomous positioning of the proposed DACS is
achieved by sending desired positions to the UGV and
applying a simple proportional-derivative (PD) controller
to compute appropriate forward and angular velocity
commands. The PD controller is designed to track the
center line of the bridge, and provides reasonable accel-
erations based on the required travel distance.
5 Experimental testing and results
This section covers the experimental program that was
carried out to verify the functionality of the EKF-SLAM
solution for mapping existing structures. Additionally, the
introduced localization method for autonomous positioning
of the DACS on a structure and its efficiency in controlling
different modes of vibration will be validated experimen-
tally through hybrid simulations of a simply supported
beam. The beam is idealized as an MDOF system repre-
sentative of the lateral component of a full-scale pedestrian
bridge. The experimental program is separated into two
stages. In the first stage, the EKF-SLAM algorithm is
implemented to develop a map of the pedestrian bridge. In
the second stage, the DACS is localized at different loca-
tions on the bridge to suppress different modes of vibration.
5.1 Experimental setup
The physical setup consists of a modular aluminum
pedestrian bridge with a span of 16.76 m (55 ft). The width
of the bridge is 1.22 m (4 ft) and is constructed in 1.52 m (5
ft) modules. Double-sided landmarks (i.e., AR codes) are
placed on both sides of the bridge deck and evenly spaced
at 1.52 m along the length to align with the panel points. To
facilitate hybrid simulation, two shear-type load cells with
a maximum lateral load capacity of ±17 kN (±4000 lbf)
are installed at mid-span and quarter-span of the bridge. At
these locations, the original bridge decking is replaced with
an independent panel to accurately measure the applied
control force. An overview of the test setup used in this
study is shown in Fig. 8. When idealized as a multi-degree
of freedom (MDOF) system, the mid-span and quarter-span
of the bridge correspond to the modeled DOFs. As such,
the DACS must be positioned at one of these two locations
for control purposes.
5.2 Map generation using EKF-SLAM
A map of the pedestrian bridge was developed using the
previously described EKF-SLAM solution. The algorithm
was programmed in MATLAB and communication with
ROS was established using the Robotic Systems Toolbox.
317
Fig. 8 Experimental test setup
The EKF loop-rate was set to 5 Hz and synchronization of
the measurements was achieved by predicting the future
position and timing the collection of measurements to align
with that particular instance. The relatively slow loop rate
provided sufficient time to process the measurements and
correct the predicted location for the given iteration. For
SLAM, the DACS was placed at one end of the bridge and
programmed to travel with a constant forward velocity of
0.1 m/s (this was set to a very low speed primarily to avoid
unwanted accelerations in the bridge structure) until the
last feature was detected. A PD steering controller cor-
rected the UGV heading to align with the center-line of the
map as it was being created. The response from the steering
controller was intentionally slow to minimize wheel slip-
page and associated errors in the prediction model. Noise
models for the prediction update and measurement updates
were quantified experimentally prior to SLAM by physi-
cally tracking the UGV position and recording exact
measurements to features.
Figure 9 compares the constructed map of the bridge
with the actual AR tag locations and includes samples from
the estimated DACS trajectory. Overall, the estimated
landmark states correspond well to the actual tag locations.
However, as shown in Fig. 9, the accuracy of the map tends
to degrade towards the end of the bridge. This error is due
to the fact the exploration stopped at the 15 m mark and the
incremental loop closure scheme has not corrected the final
landmark estimates. Table 1 summarizes the root-mean
squared error (RMSE) between the actual map and the
123
318 K. Goorts et al.

-1

-2

-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Fig. 9 Map of pedestrian bridge using EKF-SLAM

completion, a checker-board type pattern is produced as

Table 1 Summary of RMSE for landmark coordinates
Direction RMSE (m)
Overall map First 20 landmarks
X-coordinate 0.024 0.0063
Y-coordinate 0.043 0.0081
estimated landmark states in terms of the global X and
Y coordinates. The RMSE for the entire map is compared
with the RMSE for the first 20 features (i.e., excluding the
last two rows of features).
The covariance matrix can be viewed in a colour-map
to graphically illustrate the variances of the UGV and
map estimates. Figure 10 shows the covariance matrix
containing 52 states at three different stages during
SLAM. In the gray-scale colour map, darker shades
represent lower covariances and lighter shades indicate
higher covariances. To reflect the uncertainty in the
initial estimate, the variance of the feature states was
initialized to be very large. This is represented by the
white diagonal line in Fig 10a. As landmarks are
observed, the variance is revised and the off-diagonal
terms are updated to reflect the correlations between
individual features. Finally, as the full map is nearing
shown in Fig. 10c. Upon further investigation, it can be
observed that the variances for the global X-coordinate
of feature estimates are considerably lower than the
variances for the global Y-coordinate. This difference is
attributed to measurement error in the sensor and the
fact the exploration followed a nearly straight line down
the center of the bridge. In this trajectory, slight errors in
the heading estimate have a considerably larger impact
on the y-measurement than the x-measurement given
most measurements are taken at relatively small angles.
Although there is increased uncertainty associated with
the global y-coordinates of the landmarks, the resulting
map is sufficient for use in localization. It is worth
noting the DACS can tolerate small errors in the lateral
direction for this application provided good position
tracking is achieved in the longitudinal direction.
5.3 Control of MDOF system using DACS
In stage two of the experiment, the ability of the DACS to
position itself on a structure and control different modes of
vibration is assessed. A description of the methodology and
system modeling is presented followed by the test proce-
dure and key results.

1 52 1 52 1 52
1 1 1

52 52 52
(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 10 Covariance matrices at the a beginning, b middle, and c end of EKF-SLAM

123
Structural control using a deployable...
5.3.1 Methodology: real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS)
Hybrid simulation is a dynamic testing method where the
reality of physical testing is integrated with the power of
the numerical simulation techniques. In this method the test
structure is divided into two parts, namely experimental
(physical) and analytical (numerical) substructures. The
experimental substructure contains components of the test
structure for which a reliable analytical model does not
exist. These components are isolated and tested physically
while the remainder of the structure is modeled analytically
in a computer (Dermitzakis and Mahin 1985). If there are
load rate dependencies associated with the experimental
substructure, the hybrid simulations must be carried out in
real-time to capture the realistic performance of the
experimental parts (Nakashima et al. 1992; Horiuchi et al.
1999; Mercan and Ricles 2009). Assuring the robustness
and reliability of the computational platform along with
maintaining fast and well synchronized data communica-
tion amongst the substructures are the key steps in imple-
mentation of the real-time hybrid simulation (Mercan and
Ricles 2009). RTHS offers many benefits including the
ability to consider a wide range of influential parameters,
loading cases, and structural configurations in a cost
effective and timely manner. This unique advantage is due
to the fact that in this method only one or a few parts (i.e.,
critical components) of the test structure are built and
tested physically while the rest is numerically modeled
(Ashasi-Sorkhabi et al. 2013). As such, RTHS is a con-
venient method to evaluate the dynamic behavior of
complex structures including passive, active, and semi-
active control devices such as base-isolators, tuned liquid
and mass dampers (i.e., TLDs/TMDs), and MR dampers
(Christenson et al. 2008; Ashasi-Sorkhabi et al. 2017).
5.3.2 Real-time hybrid simulator
A dual-core real-time controller and a field programmable
gate array (FPGA) are the key hardware components of the
hybrid simulator used for running the experiments in this
study. The main role of the real-time controller is to solve
the equation of the motion of the MDOF structure online.
Consider the following equation of motion for a MDOF
system:
xðtÞ þ CxðtÞ
M€ _ þ Ra ðtÞ þ Re ðtÞ ¼ FðtÞ ð36Þ
where, M is the system mass matrix, C is the inherent
damping matrix, Ra is the restoring force vector computed
from the analytical substructure, Re is the restoring force
vector measured from the experimental substructure and F
is the applied external force vector. When the analytical
substructure is assumed to remain elastic, Ra is equal to Kx
where K is the stiffness matrix of the system. Re is
319
measured directly from the experimental substructure and
taken as external input into the analytical substructure. As
such, Re is transferred to the right hand side of the equation
of motion. Rewriting the equation of motion in state space
form yields:
_ ¼ AZðtÞ þ B1 FðtÞ þ B2 Re
ZðtÞ ð37Þ
YðtÞ ¼ CZðtÞ þ D1 FðtÞ þ D2 Re ð38Þ
_ T is the state vector and the state
where ZðtÞ ¼ ½xðtÞ xðtÞ
space matrices are defined as:
   
0 I 0
A¼ ; B1 ¼ B2 ¼ ;
M1 K M1 C M1
C ¼ ½I 0  ; D1 ¼ D2 ¼ 0
For RTHS implementation purposes, the above continuous
state space formulation is discretized using the zero-order-
hold discretization method. By denoting the integration
time step as T and setting t0 ¼ kT and t ¼ ðk þ 1ÞT, the
following discrete state space formulation (DSSF) is
obtained (Liu et al. 2016):
Z½ðk þ 1ÞT ¼ Ad ZðkTÞ þ B1d FðkTÞ þ B2d Re ðkTÞ ð39Þ
Y½ðk þ 1ÞT ¼ Cd Z½ðk þ 1ÞT ð40Þ
The subscript d denotes a discrete-time system matrix that
was computed assuming a discretization time step size of 1
ms. The purpose of the FPGA is to establish high-speed,
deterministic, and secure data communication with the
DACS and the measurement devices. This includes issuing
commands to the DACS and collecting force and acceler-
ation data from the shear type load cells and accelerometer.
5.3.3 Experimental and analytical substructures
A numerical model of the simply-supported, linear Ber-
noulli beam, herein referred to as the main structure, makes
up the analytical substructure. Physical properties of the
continuous beam used in this study are listed in Table 2.
For numerical modeling, the main structure is discretized
into four beam elements with a total of 10 translational and
rotational degrees of freedom at the element end nodes.
The system equivalent reduction expansion procedure
(SEREP) is employed to reduce the degrees of freedom in
the discretized model to three translational degrees of the
freedom (O’Callahan 1989). SEREP ensures the natural
frequencies of the discretized system are consistent with
the analytical solution for the continuous beam model.
Figure 11 presents a schematic of the discretized beam
model and corresponding translational DOFs. Structural
properties of the condensed discretized system are defined
123
320 K. Goorts et al.

Table 2 Properties of continuous beam model The DACS, representing the experimental substructure,
Property Value
is isolated and tested physically on the full-scale pedestrian
bridge. Having the DACS on the bridge provides the
Length 16.76 m opportunity to simultaneously assess the performance of
Mass 1800 kg the EKF-based localization method for positioning the
Elastic modulus 69.00 GPa UGV and ability to control different modes of vibration.
Moment of inertia 5000 cm4 The proposed LQG controller is used to determine the
Damping ratio 1.0 % 1st mode desired control force for controlling a particular mode of
2.0 % 2nd mode vibration. The actual restoring force applied by the DACS
is measured by the shear-type load cells and transferred
back into the analytical model. In most RTHS applications,
the numerically calculated structural displacements are
applied to the physical substructure. In this experiment,
physical displacements are not required to generate control
forces but rather only influence CSI which is to be studied
separately. Figure 12 displays a schematic of the experi-
Fig. 11 DOFs in discretized beam model mental and analytical substructures.

by the discretized mass, damping, and stiffness matrices 5.3.4 Test procedure and results
denoted Md , Cd , and Kd , respectively:
2 3 2 3
437:7 12:0 5:2 755:5 711:8 307:8 To demonstrate the ability of the DACS to autonomously
6 7 6 7
Md ¼ 4 12:0 432:6 12:0 5 ; Cd ¼ 4 711:8 1063:3 711:8 5 ; position itself and control different modes of vibration,
5:2 12:0 437:7 307:8 711:8 755:5 harmonic excitation was designed to resonate the structure
2 3
4:914 4:824 2:086 in the each of the first two modes independently. The
6 7
Kd ¼ 4 4:824 6:999 4:824 5  105 excitation consists of three 60-s segments exciting the first
2:086 4:824 4:914 mode, second mode, and first mode, respectively. Each
segment is separated by a 10 s transition phase resulting in
The resulting natural frequencies for the first and second an overall duration of 200 s. The active controller was
mode of vibration are 1.0 Hz and 4.0 Hz respectively. designed to be consistent with the excitation such that the

Fig. 12 Schematic of
experimental and analytical
substructures

123
Structural control using a deployable... 321

0.1 0.1 0.1

0 0 0

-0.1 -0.1 -0.1

35 36 37 38 39 40 95 96 97 98 99 100 175 176 177 178 179 180
0.1
Displacement (m)

0.05

-0.05
Uncontrolled Controlled
-0.1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time (s)
(a)

0.1 0.1 0.1

0 0 0

-0.1 -0.1 -0.1

35 36 37 38 39 40 95 96 97 98 99 100 175 176 177 178 179 180
0.1
Displacement (m)

0.05

-0.05
Uncontrolled Controlled
-0.1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time (s)
(b)

0.1 0.1 0.1

0 0 0

-0.1 -0.1 -0.1

35 36 37 38 39 40 95 96 97 98 99 100 175 176 177 178 179 180
0.1
Displacement (m)

0.05

-0.05
Uncontrolled Controlled
-0.1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time (s)
(c)
Fig. 13 Uncontrolled and controlled displacement response at each DOF

123
322 K. Goorts et al.

Table 3 Effectiveness of
Segment Window (s) Quarter-span Response (m) Mid-span Response (m)
DACS under forced harmonic
excitation Uncontrolled Controlled Reduction Uncontrolled Controlled Reduction
RMS RMS % RMS RMS %

1 30–60 0.0465 0.0148 68 0.0658 0.0209 68

2 100–130 0.0115 0.0069 40 0.0036 0.0011 69
3 170–200 0.0473 0.0162 66 0.0670 0.0229 66

control objective was to suppress the particular mode that
was being excited. A set of control gains was predeter-
mined for each mode of control. For controlling the first
mode of vibration, the UGV was commanded to position
itself at DOF 2 (mid-span). On the other hand, to control
the second mode, the UGV was instructed to position itself
at DOF 1 (quarter-span).
The controlled displacements are compared with the
uncontrolled response for each DOF in Fig. 13. For all
DOFs, a portion of each segment is enlarged for clarity.
Since the UGV started at an arbitrary location on the
bridge, initial positioning of the device at mid-span was
required. This positioning required approximately 20 s as
illustrated by the consistency between the controlled and
uncontrolled responses. After reaching the desired position,
active control was applied and the displacements were
effectively suppressed by over 70 % (from 97 to 27 mm at
mid-span). At the onset of the transition to the second
mode of vibration, the DACS suspended control operations
and began navigating to the quarter-span; reaching the
desired position at the 90 s mark. As the excitation tran-
sitioned to excite the second mode, DOF 2 experienced a
free vibration response, while the displacements at DOFs 1
and 3 were reduced in amplitude but increased in fre-
quency. The control performance for the second mode is
illustrated during the middle segment for DOFs 1 and 3
where a 40 % reduction in displacement (from 18 to 10
mm) is observed. Finally, the transition back to the first
mode triggered the positioning of the device back to DOF
2. Control for the first mode resumed at the 160 s mark and
resulted in similar control effect to that demonstrated
during the first segment. The root-mean-squared (RMS)
value of the uncontrolled and controlled responses at mid-
span and quarter-span are compared for a 30 s window in
each segment. The results, presented in Table 3, validate
the effectiveness of the proposed DACS to control different
modes of vibration by positioning and updating the control
algorithm.
Figure 14 provides a comparison between the desired
control force computed by the control algorithm and the
measured restoring force captured by the load cells. In this
plot, the time spent positioning the DACS is represented by
a desired control force of zero. When controlling the first
mode, the DACS is able to accurately provide the desired
force. However, it should be noted that when controlling
the second mode there is approximately 20 N or 8 %
overshoot in the measured force and increased control
delay of up to 30 ms compared to the first mode. The
overshoot and additional delay could be attributed to the
fact the control frequency is reaching the limits of the
previously developed transfer function models or the

400 400 400

200 200 200

0 0 0

-200 -200 -200

-400 -400 -400

35 36 37 38 39 40 95 96 97 98 99 100 175 176 177 178 179 180
400
Control Force (N)

200

-200
Desired Measured
-400
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time (s)

Fig. 14 Active control force

123
Structural control using a deployable... 323

4 4 4

2 2 2

0 0 0

-2 -2 -2

-4 -4 -4
35 36 37 38 39 40 95 96 97 98 99 100 175 176 177 178 179 180
4
Modal Displacement

-2
Uncontrolled Controlled
-4
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time (s)
(a)

0.2 0.2 0.2

0 0 0

-0.2 -0.2 -0.2

-0.4 -0.4 -0.4

35 36 37 38 39 40 95 96 97 98 99 100 175 176 177 178 179 180
0.4
Modal Displacement

0.2

-0.2
Uncontrolled Controlled
-0.4
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time (s)
(b)
Fig. 15 Uncontrolled and controlled modal response for a the first mode and b the second mode

tuning of the servo-drive. To further improve control per- from the previous test. Figure 15 compares the uncon-
formance the transfer function models can be extended to trolled and controlled modal responses for the first and
cover a larger frequency bandwidth and the servo drive second mode. As shown in Fig. 15a, the first mode is
could be reprogrammed to provide the desired response at suppressed during the first and third segments. Similarly,
higher frequencies. Overall, the DACS demonstrated the Fig. 15b, shows the effect of second mode control during
ability to autonomously position itself on the bridge and the second segment. Table 4 compares the RMS value of
control two separate structural modes of vibration. the uncontrolled and controlled responses for each mode
The performance of the DACS was further assessed over three different windows. The 30 s windows corre-
using broadband excitation. Similar to the harmonic exci- spond to the time in each segment after the system has
tation, the generated broadband signal was divided into reached the desired position and began applying control
three segments and filtered around the first and second forces. As shown in the table, the RMS value of the first
mode frequencies in an attempt to excite individual modes mode response is reduced by 34 % and 52 % in the first and
of the structure. Although this loading will result in first third segments respectively. Similarly, a 12 % reduction in
mode contributions during the second segment, the control the RMS value of the second mode response is achieved
objective and corresponding control gains were maintained after positioning at quarter-span and suppressing second

123
324
Table 4 Effectiveness of
Segment Window (s) Mode 1 Response
DACS under broadband
excitation Uncontrolled
RMS
1 30–60 0.3069
2 100–130 0.9923
3 170–200 0.6267
mode vibrations. The controlled modal responses for the
first and second mode when subjected to broadband exci-
tation validate the features of the DACS.
6 Conclusions
This paper presented a deployable, autonomous control
system suitable for short-term vibration mitigation in
lightweight bridges. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the
first application of its kind in structural control. The DACS
features a relatively large control bandwidth and transfers
control forces without the use of a rigid connection. The
use of EKF-SLAM to create a map of an unknown envi-
ronment allows the system to position itself at any location
on the structure and hence control different modes of
vibration.
The accuracy of the EKF-SLAM algorithm was assessed
using a full-scale pedestrian bridge. The estimated land-
mark locations corresponded well to the actual map, par-
ticularly in the longitudinal direction. The covariance in the
lateral coordinates was considerably higher due to uncer-
tainty in the vehicles lateral position which was attributed
to the nearly straight-line exploration trajectory. Despite
the estimate uncertainty, the mean values produced a map
sufficient for autonomously positioning the UGV. Further
improvements to the SLAM implementation could include
the use of additional sensors such as an IMU for improving
vehicle odometry or laser scanners for more accurate range
measurements. Also, in addition to AR tags, adding a
coloured line to denote the center-line to the bridge could
significantly improve the lateral position estimate of the
vehicle and in turn reduce uncertainty associated with the
landmark estimates. Lastly, for outdoor applications, a GPS
can be incorporated; however, the Kinect sensors should be
replaced with other sensors suitable for the lighting
conditions.
The ability of the DACS to autonomously position itself
and control different modes of vibration was demonstrated
through RTHS of a MDOF system. Harmonic excitation
was applied to resonate the structure in each of the first two
modes. When resonating in the first mode, the system
navigated to mid-span and applied the desired control
force. As the mode of vibration transitioned to the second
123
K. Goorts et al.
Mode 2 Response
Controlled Reduction Uncontrolled Controlled Reduction
RMS % RMS RMS %
0.2029 34 0.0224 0.0224 –
0.9975 – 0.0614 0.0540 12
0.3018 52 0.0194 0.0194 –
mode, the system positioned itself accordingly at the
quarter-span. The DACS effectively suppressed both
modes of vibration; however, further tuning of the control
algorithm and servo-drive could lead to improved control
of the second mode. The results of the forced harmonic
simulation were validated by subjecting the system to
broadband excitation. In summary, the results from the
simulation show the proposed system can accurately nav-
igate to the desired position and has sufficient bandwidth to
control different modes of vibration.
The combination of deployability and autonomy for
structural control shows great promise and is particularly
attractive in temporary applications. Further studies are
needed and are being conducted to better understand and
further improve the proposed system. In particular, the role
of CSI on control performance and UGV positioning for
optimal control are currently being investigated. The
authors hope that this paper spurs interest amongst the
structural engineering community in studying robotics for
structural control.
Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding
support provided by the Natural Sciences Engineering Research
Council (NSERC) of Canada through their Canada Research Chairs
(CRC), Collaborative Research and Development (CRD), and Post-
Graduate Scholarship (PGS) programs.
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Kevin Goorts received his
BASc. degree in Civil Engi-
neering from the University of
Waterloo (UW) in 2013 and is
currently a Ph.D. Candidate in
the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering at
UW. His research interests are
in the area of active structural
control for lightweight struc-
tures with particular emphasis
on robotic applications.
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Stephen Phillips received his
BASc. degree in Civil Engi-
neering from the University of
Waterloo (UW) in 2016 and is
currently an MASc Candidate in
the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering at
UW. His research interests are
in the area of active structural
control and robotics applica-
tions in Civil Engineering.
Ali Ashasi-Sorkhabi is a
postdoctoral fellow at the
department of civil and envi-
ronmental engineering, Univer-
sity of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON,
Canada. He obtained his PhD
degree in Civil engineering
from University of Toronto,
Toronto, ON, Canada. His
research experience and inter-
ests span the areas of structural
dynamics, dynamic testing
methods particularly real-time
hybrid simulation, structural
control, supplemental damping
devices, vibration monitoring, and structural/non-structural health
123
K. Goorts et al.
monitoring. In addition, Ali has co-authored 8 journal publications
and 9 conference papers in his research fields.
Sriram Narasimhan is an
Associate Professor in the
Department of Civil & Envi-
ronmental Engineering at the
University of Waterloo, where
he also holds a cross-appoint-
ment with the Department of
Mechanical and Mechatronics
Engineering and the title of
Canada Research Chair in Smart
Infrastructure. He obtained his
PhD degree from Rice Univer-
sity in Houston, Texas, in 2005.
He has authored or co-authored
over 75 journal and conference
papers and serves on the editorial board of prestigious international
journals. His research spans across structural dynamics, system
identification and robotic applications to infrastructure assessment
and control.