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M.Ing.

Prof. A.L. Nel

M.Ing. / A two-axis gimbal system in the form of a pitch-roll gimbal and a motion simulating platform were developed to extend the capability of an existing ground-to-air prototype gun-turret. The objective was to stabilize the line of sight (LOS) of the gimbal system despite disturbances introduced by the motion simulating platform in real time. The main sensor used for the stabilization is a two-axis accelerometer which was mounted directly on the inner gimbal (roll gimbal) to form a direct-mass stabilization architecture. The stabilization control algorithm was designed and executed in the Labview® environment on a PC, and the accelerometer data is used to drive the two DC motors used as the actuators of this control system. The design of the motion simulating platform was based on a simplified Stewart-Platform and uses pneumatic cylinders as actuating limbs. All sensors and actuators in the motion simulating platform and the gimbal system are integrated with the National Instrument’s CompactRio® and Labview®. The result was a simple stabilization controller capable of achieving basic stabilization of the LOS. However, the hardware and software of this project are capable of more complex control algorithms and that forms the bulk of the suggestions for further studies.