Study to define logic associated with CMGS to maneuver and stabilize an orbiting spacecraft

A study was conducted to define the logic associated with the control moment gyroscopes to maneuver and stabilize an orbiting spacecraft. The study objectives are as follows: (1) to define mission requirements and feasible attitudes for a shuttle-like vehicle that will meet mission objectives, (2) to determine the control moment gyroscope (CMG) and system configurations that will best meet overall mission requirements, (3) to define all of the software required to manage and control the selected CMG systems, and (4) to verify by computer simulation the adequacy of the selected CMG system and specified software package in meeting the overall mission requirements

Spectra, pseudospectra, and localization for random bidiagonal matrices

There has been much recent interest, initiated by work of the physicists Hatano and Nelson, in the eigenvalues of certain random non-hermitian periodic tridiagonal matrices and their bidiagonal limits. These eigenvalues cluster along a "bubble with wings" in the complex plane, and the corresponding eigenvectors are localized in the wings, delocalized in the bubble. Here, in addition to eigenvalues, pseudospectra are analyzed, making it possible to treat the non-periodic analogues of these random matrix problems. Inside the bubble, the resolvent norm grows exponentially with the dimension. Outside, it grows subexponentially in a bounded region that is the spectrum of the infinite-dimensional operator. Localization and delocalization correspond to resolvent matrices whose entries exponentially decrease or increase, respectively, with distance from the diagonal. This article presents theorems that characterize the spectra, pseudospectra, and numerical range for the four cases of finite bidiagonal matrices, infinite bidiagonal matrices ("stochastic Toeplitz operators"), finite periodic matrices, and doubly infinite bidiagonal matrices ("stochastic Laurent operators").\ud \ud This is a preprint of an article published in Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics, copyright 2000, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This work was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Grant GR/M1241

A digital computer program for the dynamic interaction simulation of controls and structure (DISCOS), volume 1

A theoretical development and associated digital computer program system for the dynamic simulation and stability analysis of passive and actively controlled spacecraft are presented. The dynamic system (spacecraft) is modeled as an assembly of rigid and/or flexible bodies not necessarily in a topological tree configuration. The computer program system is used to investigate total system dynamic characteristics, including interaction effects between rigid and/or flexible bodies, control systems, and a wide range of environmental loadings. In addition, the program system is used for designing attitude control systems and for evaluating total dynamic system performance, including time domain response and frequency domain stability analyses

Development and application of cartesian tensor mathematics for kinematic analysis of spatial mechanisms

The complexity of spatial mechanisms in themselves and the absence of an attractive analytical tool for their study has left this field of engineering analysis largely unexplored. In recent years several analytic methods have emerged. One of the most attractive of these is the tensor method. Literature surveys reveal that the tensor method is largely unexploited in the U.S.A., with regard to spatial mechanisms as well as simpler kinematic problems. The purpose of this work is to develop tensor mathematics for application to the kinematic analysis of spatial mechanisms. Methods are developed for position solutions and the determination of velocities and accelerations of points of interest. Included are tensor methods for obtaining angular velocities and accelerations as well as the formulae for treating moving coordinate frames. Iterative procedures are discussed for cases where a closed form solution is not possible. Sufficient applications are included to exemplify the methods developed including some which are numerically solved by computer. It is concluded that the methods developed represent a cogent and tractable method of analysis of kinematic problems --Abstract, Page ii