Design and tests of a frictionless 2D platform for studying space navigation and control subsystems

Abstract

The design of a low cost free floating platform for ground test of on orbit complex operations is presented. The authors describe the bus design and the test of the different components, such as the pressured air tanks feeding the pads - needed for low friction planar operations-, the thrusters, the software and hardware architecture. A major focus is set on the navigation system. The selection process of the inertial sensors is illustrated, with relevant test campaign, performed for assessing the gyroscope and accelerometers characteristics (white noise, bias, random walk). The accelerometers, however, do not prove to be accurate enough to permit even time limited controlled maneuvers. At the scope we add an optical sensor, and include its measurements in the Kalman filter realized to estimate the platform state. Eventually, the performance of the guide, navigation and control system applied to the assembled platform is tested by means of a series of maneuvers characterized by growing complexity: rectilinear path tracking, attitude slewing maneuver, and coordinated translation and rotational control along curvilinear trajectories

Analysis and tests of visual based techniques for orbital rendezvous operations

“…For the present work, tests will be performed using the free floating platform realized at the Guidance and Navigation Lab at Sapienza Università di Roma, with a pneumatic suspension system which enables a two-dimensional test of space operations (Ref. [11]). The platform will be adopted to provide an experimental validation of the discussed image analysis techniques once integrated in a complete guidance scheme.…”

Test-Bench COSMOS for Microsatellite Control System Mock-Ups Modeling and Survey

“… бортовой компьютер Raspberry PI B+;  систему энергопитания, включающую в себя аккумулятор и блок управления питанием;  систему передачи команд на управляющие элементы и сбора телементрии с датчиков;  датчики для определения движения: набор солнечных датчиков, магнитометр, датчик угловой скорости, акселерометр;  управяющие актюаторы: одноосный двгатель-маховик, 4 вентилятора, имитирующих двигатели тяги;  бортовую веб-камеру, которая может быть использована для определения относительного движения макетов;  Wi-Fi-канал связи. На верхней крышке каждого макета закреплена специальная контрастная метка в виде QR-кода.…”

“…8). Для обеспечения длительной не-прерывной работы (30-45 минут) давление воздуха в баках должно быть доста-точно большим (в некоторых реализациях оно достигает 300 бар [3]), но, как правило, рабочее давление находится в пределах между 1 [4] и 12 [3] бар, и по-этому время активной работы обычно невелико.…”

Slider: On the Design and Modeling of a 2D Floating Satellite Platform

“…Various government organization and university laboratories across the globe has indigenously constructed their own test bed facilities. Examples can be found in [11], [12], [13]. Primarily these emulation platform synthesises planner motion of a robotic vehicle, while in some designs, additional degrees of freedom are achieved by adding an air-bearing on top of the planar platform [14]- [16].…”