Space science/space station attached payload pointing accommodation study: Technology assessment white paper

Technology assessment is performed for pointing systems that accommodate payloads of large mass and large dimensions. Related technology areas are also examined. These related areas include active thermal lines or power cables across gimbals, new materials for increased passive damping, tethered pointing, and inertially reacting pointing systems. Conclusions, issues and concerns, and recommendations regarding the status and development of large pointing systems for space applications are made based on the performed assessments

Fault detection, diagnosis and active fault tolerant control for a satellite attitude control system

Modern control systems are becoming more and more complex and control algorithms more and more sophisticated. Consequently, Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) and Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) have gained central importance over the past decades, due to the increasing requirements of availability, cost efficiency, reliability and operating safety. This thesis deals with the FDD and FTC problems in a spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS). Firstly, the detailed nonlinear models of the spacecraft attitude dynamics and kinematics are described, along with the dynamic models of the actuators and main external disturbance sources. The considered ADCS is composed of an array of four redundant reaction wheels. A set of sensors provides satellite angular velocity, attitude and flywheel spin rate information. Then, general overviews of the Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI), Fault Estimation (FE) and Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) problems are presented, and the design and implementation of a novel diagnosis system is described. The system consists of a FDI module composed of properly organized model-based residual filters, exploiting the available input and output information for the detection and localization of an occurred fault. A proper fault mapping procedure and the nonlinear geometric approach are exploited to design residual filters explicitly decoupled from the external aerodynamic disturbance and sensitive to specific sets of faults. The subsequent use of suitable adaptive FE algorithms, based on the exploitation of radial basis function neural networks, allows to obtain accurate fault estimations. Finally, this estimation is actively exploited in a FTC scheme to achieve a suitable fault accommodation and guarantee the desired control performances. A standard sliding mode controller is implemented for attitude stabilization and control. Several simulation results are given to highlight the performances of the overall designed system in case of different types of faults affecting the ADCS actuators and sensors

A Neural Network Approach to Fault Detection in Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control Systems

This thesis proposes a method of performing fault detection and isolation in spacecraft attitude determination and control systems. The proposed method works by deploying a trained neural network to analyze a set of residuals that are dened such that they encompass the attitude control, guidance, and attitude determination subsystems. Eight neural networks were trained using either the resilient backpropagation, Levenberg-Marquardt, or Levenberg-Marquardt with Bayesian regularization training algorithms. The results of each of the neural networks were analyzed to determine the accuracy of the networks with respect to isolating the faulty component or faulty subsystem within the ADCS. The performance of the proposed neural network-based fault detection and isolation method was compared and contrasted with other ADCS FDI methods. The results obtained via simulation showed that the best neural networks employing this method successfully detected the presence of a fault 79% of the time. The faulty subsystem was successfully isolated 75% of the time and the faulty components within the faulty subsystem were isolated 37% of the time

Fuzzy-Model-Based (FMB) Control of a Spacecraft with Fuel Sloshing Dynamics

During the upper-stage separation and orbit injection, orbital control, and attitude maneuver, propellant slosh in partially-filled fuel tanks can cause dynamical instability or pointing errors. The spacecraft dynamics combined with propellant sloshing results in a highly nonlinear and coupled dynamic system that requires a complicated control law. This problem has been a long-standing concern for space missions. The purpose of this research is two fold. The first part is to investigate and develop nonlinear Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model-based controllers for a spacecraft with fuel sloshing considering the input constraints on the actuators. It includes i) a fuzzy controller/observer with a minimum upper-bound control input based on the parallel-distributed compensation (PDC) technique, ii) a fuzzy controller/observer based on the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) that uses the premises of the T-S model, and iii) a robust-optimal fuzzy-model-based controller/observer. The designed controllers are globally asymptotically stable and have a satisfactory performance and robustness. The second part of the research is to develop a mathematical model of a spinning spacecraft with fuel sloshing during high-g maneuvers. The equations of motion of a spacecraft with partially-filled multiple-tanks are derived using the Kane’s method. To do this, two spherical pendulums as an equivalent mechanical model of the fuel sloshing are adopted. The effect of the slosh model parameters on the spacecraft nutation angle is studied. The developed model is validated via several numerical simulations

Third International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology

In order to examine the state of technology of all areas of magnetic suspension and to review recent developments in sensors, controls, superconducting magnet technology, and design/implementation practices, the Third International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology was held at the Holiday Inn Capital Plaza in Tallahassee, Florida on 13-15 Dec. 1995. The symposium included 19 sessions in which a total of 55 papers were presented. The technical sessions covered the areas of bearings, superconductivity, vibration isolation, maglev, controls, space applications, general applications, bearing/actuator design, modeling, precision applications, electromagnetic launch and hypersonic maglev, applications of superconductivity, and sensors

Modeling, Analysis, and Optimization Issues for Large Space Structures

Topics concerning the modeling, analysis, and optimization of large space structures are discussed including structure-control interaction, structural and structural dynamics modeling, thermal analysis, testing, and design

Severe storms observing satellite study

Payload distribution and the attitude control system for the multi-mission modular spacecraft/StormSat configuration are discussed. The design of the advanced atmospheric sounder and imaging radiometer (AASIR) gimbal drive and its servomechanism is described. Onboard data handling, data downlink communications, and ground data handling systems are developed. Additional topics covered include: magnetic unloading at synchronous altitude, north-south stationkeeping, and the feasibility and impact of flying the microwave atmospheric sounding radiometer (MASR) as an additional payload