Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.

If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

Classical linear-quadratic-regulators (LQR) provide the basis of well-known active optimal problems in mechanical and agricultural engineering. They concern control of linear dynamical systems with a quadratic cost function. Their efficiency deteriorates as the uncertainty of the loading and/or of the structural system becomes higher. For this reason, innovative optimal structural control schemes are studied in this paper. They are based on the theory of multirate linear quadratic regulators and allow for several improvements as well as for the integration of several hardware and software components for the realization of the proposed control. The advantages of multirate linear quadratic control are shown on a concrete application of an actively controlled sprayer boom attached on a tractor, a system that is widely used in agricultural applications.