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Hardware-in-the-Loop Rendezvous Tests of a Novel Actuators Command Concept

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Abstract

Integration, test and validation results, in a real-time environment, of a novel concept for spacecraft control are presented in this paper. The proposed method commands simultaneously a group of actuators optimizing a given set of objective functions based on a multiobjective optimization technique. Since close proximity maneuvers play an important role in orbital servicing missions, the entire GNC system has been integrated and tested at a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) rendezvous and docking simulator known as European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS). During the test campaign at EPOS facility, a visual camera has been used to provide the necessary measurements for calculating the relative position with respect to the target satellite during closed-loop simulations. In addition, two different configurations of spacecraft control have been considered in this paper: a thruster reaction control system and a mixed actuators mode which includes thrusters, reaction wheels, and magnetic torqrods. At EPOS, results of HIL closed-loop tests have demonstrated that a safe and stable rendezvous approach can be achieved with the proposed GNC loop.

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Abbreviations

AMCM:

: Actuators Multiobjective Command Method

AOCS:

: Attitude and Orbit Control System

CLW:

: Clohessy-Wiltshire coordinate frame

CoM:

: Center of Mass

EPOS:

: European Proximity Operations Simulator

GNC:

: Guidance, Navigation and Control

HIL:

: Hardware-in-the-loop

LEO:

: Low Earth Orbit

MIB:

: Minimum Impulse Bit

OOS:

: On-Orbit Servicing

PID:

: Proportional-Integrative-Derivative

PWPF:

: Pulse Width Pulse Frequency

RCS:

: Reaction Control System

RvD:

: Rendezvous and Docking

SLC:

: Smallest Loss Criterion

A :

: Configuration matrix

F,F a :

: Requested and applied force and torque control vector

\(\dot {h}_{w}\) :

: Flywheel inertial torque, Nm

T c :

: Torque command of the controller, Nm

T m :

: Magnetic control torque, Nm

u :

: Thrust time duration, s

x :

: Decision variable vector

x b :

: Best compromise solution

x ∗ :

: Barycenter solution

Z :

: Objective functions vector

δ :

: Nozzle inclination angle, deg

ω w :

: Flywheel angular velocity, rpm

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Acknowledgments

This research was sponsored by the CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, process number BEX 3512/13-4. The authors also wish to thank the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) which provided all the necessary support for the development of the work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Space Research, Av. dos Astronautas 1758, São José dos Campos, Brazil

    Willer Gomes dos Santos & Evandro Marconi Rocco

  2. German Aerospace Center, Münchner Strasse 20, Wessling, Germany

    Toralf Boge, Heike Benninghoff & Florian Rems

Authors
  1. Willer Gomes dos Santos
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  2. Evandro Marconi Rocco
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  3. Toralf Boge
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  4. Heike Benninghoff
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  5. Florian Rems
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Correspondence to Willer Gomes dos Santos.

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Dedicated to Toralf Boge (in memoriam)

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Gomes dos Santos, W., Marconi Rocco, E., Boge, T. et al. Hardware-in-the-Loop Rendezvous Tests of a Novel Actuators Command Concept. J of Astronaut Sci 63, 287–307 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-016-0094-0

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