Control of quadriaxial cardan suspension

A quadriaxial Cardan suspension is to be servomechanically controlled so as to stabilize a definite orientation of the platform during arbitrary motion of the frame. The problem is solved with the use of five orthogonal systems of coordinates tied one to the platform, one to each of the three gimbals, and one to the frame respectively. The suspension is assumed to be structurally perfectly rigid and to be part of a gyroscopic indicator-stabilization system. The corresponding dynamic equations are written as equations for angular momenta and several variants of control, for the various rotations, are constructed. One such variant, a more intricate one, is course-vertical control. Dynamic control of the suspension in a stationary frame, to ensure any arbitrarily prescribed angular evolutions of the platform, is also considered and the procedure for constructing such a control is outlined.