Conceptual mechanization studies for a horizon definition spacecraft attitude control subsystem, phase A, part II, 10 October 1966 - 29 May 1967

Attitude control subsystem for spin stabilized spacecraft for mapping earths infrared horizon radiance profiles in 15 micron carbon dioxide absorption ban

Hybrid Attitude Control and Estimation On SO(3)

This thesis presents a general framework for hybrid attitude control and estimation design on the Special Orthogonal group SO(3). First, the attitude stabilization problem on SO(3) is considered. It is shown that, using a min-switch hybrid control strategy designed from a family of potential functions on SO(3), global exponential stabilization on SO(3) can be achieved when this family of potential functions satisfies certain properties. Then, a systematic methodology to construct these potential functions is developed. The proposed hybrid control technique is applied to the attitude tracking problem for rigid body systems. A smoothing mechanism is proposed to filter out the discrete behaviour of the hybrid switching mechanism leading to control torques that are continuous. Next, the problem of attitude estimation from continuous body-frame vector measurements of known inertial directions is considered. Two hybrid attitude and gyro bias observers designed directly on SO(3) are proposed. The first observer uses a set of innovation terms and a switching mechanism that selects the appropriate innovation term. The second observer uses a fixed innovation term and allows the attitude state to be reset (experience discrete transition or jump) to an adequately chosen value on SO(3). Both hybrid observers guarantee global exponential stability of the zero estimation errors. Finally, in the case where the body-frame vector measurements are intermittent, an event-triggered attitude estimation scheme on SO(3) is proposed. The observer consists in integrating the continuous angular velocity during the interval of time where the vector measurements are not available, and updating the attitude state upon the arrival of the vector measurements. Both cases of synchronous and asynchronous vector measurements with possible irregular sampling periods are considered. Moreover, some modifications to the intermittent observer are developed to handle different practical issues such as discrete-time implementation, noise filtering and gyro bias compensation

AAS/GSFC 13th International Symposium on Space Flight Dynamics

This conference proceedings preprint includes papers and abstracts presented at the 13th International Symposium on Space Flight Dynamics. Cosponsored by American Astronautical Society and the Guidance, Navigation and Control Center of the Goddard Space Flight Center, this symposium featured technical papers on a wide range of issues related to orbit-attitude prediction, determination, and control; attitude sensor calibration; attitude dynamics; and mission design

State Estimation for Systems on Lie Groups with Nonideal Measurements

This thesis considers the state estimation problem for invariant systems on Lie groups with inputs in its associated Lie algebra and outputs in homogeneous spaces of the Lie group. A particular focus of this thesis is the development of state estimation methodologies for systems with nonideal measurements, especially systems with additive input measurement bias, output measurement delay, and sampled outputs. The main contribution of the thesis is to effectively employ the symmetries of the system dynamics and to benefit from the Lie group structure of the underlying state space in order to design robust state estimators that are computationally simple and are ideal for embedded applications in robotic systems. We address the input measurement bias problem by proposing a novel nonlinear observer to adaptively eliminate the input measurement bias. Despite the nonlinear and non-autonomous nature of the resulting error dynamics and the complexity of the underlying state space, the proposed observer exhibits asymptotic/exponential convergence of the state and bias estimation errors to zero. To tackle the output measurement delay problem, we propose novel dynamic predictors used in an observer-predictor arrangement. The observer provides estimates of the delayed state using the delayed output measurements and the predictor takes those estimates, compensates for the delay, and provides predictions of the current state. Separately, we propose output predictors employed in a predictor-observer arrangement to address the problem of sampled output measurements. The output predictors take the sampled measurements and provide continuous predictions of the current outputs. Feeding the predicted outputs into the observer yields estimates of the current state. Both methods rely on the invariance of the underlying system dynamics to recursively provide predictions with low computation requirements. We demonstrate applications of the theory with examples of attitude, velocity, and position estimation on SO(3) and SE(3). A key contribution of this thesis is the development of C++ libraries in an embedded implementation as well as experimental verification of the developed theory with real flight tests using model UAVs

Attitude Determination & Control System Design and Implementation for a 6U CubeSat Proximity Operations Mission

The purpose of this work is to discuss the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) design process and implementation for a 12 kg, 6U (36.6 cm x 23.9 cm x 27.97 cm) CubeSat class nano-satellite. The design is based on the requirements and capabilities of the Application for Resident Space Object Proximity Analysis and IMAging (ARAPAIMA) proximity operations mission. The satellite is equipped with a cold gas propulsion system capable of exerting 2.5 mN m torques in both directions about each body axis. The attitude sensors include an angular rate gyro and star tracker (STR), supplemented by the payload optical array cameras. The dynamic simulation of the satellite includes extensive environmental models and analyses that show how the satellite attitude is affected by aerodynamic drag, solar radiation pressure, gravity gradient torques, and residual magnetic moments. A mechanical propellant slosh model and a reaction torque analysis of the deployable solar panel hinges approximate the internal dynamics of the satellite. A trade study is presented to justify the use of a reaction control thruster actuated system over the more traditional reaction wheel configuration. Both actuation systems are modeled to hardware specifications and their propellant and energy requirements are examined alongside pointing performance. Two methods of accounting for sensor noise and sampling rates are presented. The first is an extended Kalman filter based on the nonlinear model of a rate gyro coupled with quaternion attitude kinematics. The second presents a gyro-less angular rate observer capable of extrapolating STR measurements to the desired frequency. An additional method uses images from the payload cameras to perform [camera] frame centering maneuvers and to address the possibility of bias in the controller reference signal. Four different controllers are described to reflect the chronological progression of the ADCS design. The first controller, designed to perform long angle maneuvers and target tracking, utilizes fixed gain eigenaxis control. The same controller is then augmented with a parallel proportional-integral-derivative (PID) type control law using scheduled gains. This configuration is designed to switch between eigenaxis and PID control during imaging procedures to take advantage of the integral control introduced by the PID algorithm. To reduce system complexity, a modified eigenaxis control law, which incorporates scheduled integral control but does not require a switch to PID control, is introduced. A discrete time equivalent of the modified eigenaxis control law is also developed. Additionally, a brief description of a detumbling control law is presented. Each of the four control laws is paired and tested with the different feedback and estimation methods discussed. An extensive showcase of numerical simulation results outlines the pointing performance of each system configuration and evaluates their capabilities of meeting a 1 arcmin pointing requirement. A comparison of the different properties and performance of each control system configuration precedes the selection of the discrete modified eigenaxis control law as the best alternative

Sensors Utilisation and Data Collection of Underground Mining

This study reviews IMU significance and performance for underground mine drone localisation. This research has designed a Kalman filter which extracts reliable information from raw data. Kalman filter for INS combines different measurements considering estimated errors to produce a trajectory including time, position and attitude. To evaluate the feasibility of the proposed method, a prototype has been designed and evaluated. Experimental results indicate that the designed Kalman filter estimates the internal states of a system