Virtual Formation Method for Precise Autonomous Absolute Orbit Control

Florio, Sergio De; D’Amico, Simone; Radice, Gianmarco

doi:10.2514/1.61575

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…where the dynamics of the state vector are described by ( 3) and (10). The control input, on the other hand, is set to…”

Section: Mpc Problem Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many contributions on autonomous absolute orbit keeping for LEO satellites have been introduced over the last few decades [6][7][8][9]. Among the many, formation flying techniques were used for absolute orbit control in [10], where the spacecraft had to maintain its ground track close to a reference trajectory computed as the orbit of a virtual chief satellite. A specific set of variables was used to parameterize the relative motion and linear and quadratic optimal regulators were employed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Autonomous Optimal Absolute Orbit Keeping through Formation Flying Techniques

Mahfouz,

Gaias,

Venkateswara Rao

et al. 2023

Aerospace

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In this paper, the problem of autonomous optimal absolute orbit keeping for a satellite mission in Low Earth Orbit using electric propulsion is considered. The main peculiarity of the approach is to support small satellite missions in which the platform is equipped with a single thruster nozzle that provides acceleration on a single direction at a time. This constraint implies that an attitude maneuver is necessary before or during each thrusting arc to direct the nozzle into the desired direction. In this context, an attitude guidance algorithm specific for the orbit maneuver has been developed. A Model Predictive Control scheme is proposed, where the attitude kinematics are coupled with the orbital dynamics in order to obtain the optimal guidance profiles in terms of satellite state, reference attitude, and thrust magnitude. The proposed control scheme is developed exploiting formation flying techniques where the reference orbit is that of a virtual spacecraft that the main satellite is required to rendezvous with. In addition to the controller design, the closed-loop configuration is presented supported by numerical simulations. The efficacy of the proposed autonomous orbit-keeping approach is shown in several application scenarios.

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“…where the dynamics of the state vector are described by ( 3) and (10). The control input, on the other hand, is set to…”

Section: Mpc Problem Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous Optimal Absolute Orbit Keeping through Formation Flying Techniques

Mahfouz,

Gaias,

Venkateswara Rao

et al. 2023

Aerospace

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although the mentioned strategy successfully solved the burden of daily ground operations, there are limited resources in the ground station of an extensive satellite network to meet frequent satellite operations requirements. Thus, an onboard autonomous orbit control strategy has been presented by Bolandi and Abrehdari [13], Florio et al [14], Garulli et al [15], De Florio et al [16], and Zhong and Gurfil [17]. The autonomous orbit control of low-orbit satellite includes orbit determination, orbit, and attitude control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous Phase Control Combining EKF and Adaptive Neural Network for Remote Sensing Satellites

Wang¹,

Wang

Zheng³

2022

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

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In this paper, a novel, effective, and feasible autonomous phase control algorithm based on the extended Kalman filtering (EKF) and neural network is firstly developed for addressing the problems of configuration maintenance of remote sensing satellite constellation. A balanced moment arm optimization method is employed to design the installation structure layout of the chemical propulsion system in the satellite. On that basis, an autonomous orbit control strategy is presented for controlling the phase of satellites, and the EKF algorithm is utilized to determine the orbit used to calculate the satellite phase. A radial basis function (RBF) neural network-based attitude control method is proposed to solve the attitude disturbance problem in the course of the phase control, and the RBF neural network is utilized to approximate the coupling torque of the orbit control. The simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of the designed automatic phase control strategy of the satellite.

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“…The constantly evolving notion of spacecraft formation provides the means to enhance mission reliability and adaptability to changing mission requirements by distributing major tasks, which used to be commonly handled by a single monolithic unit, among several smaller spacecraft, therefore leading to technological and economic benefits such as: mission robustness against unit loss by reconfiguring the formation with the remaining satellites, weight reduction in launch payload for tight formation missions, miniaturization and mass production of spacecraft, etc. Moreover, autonomy poses several advantages over traditional manual control, such as the reduction of ground-based orbit maintenance, planning and scheduling by knowing the future position and velocity of the spacecraft at any time and lower propellant usage by continuously maintaining the orbit at its highest level (De Florio et al, 2014). Several autonomous formation flying missions designed to demonstrate the feasibility of this technology are currently deployed while others are still under development, for example, TacSat2 (Plam et al, 2008), Demeter (Lamy et al, 2009), TanDEM-X (Montenbruck & Kahle, 2008) and PRISMA (D'Amico et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Close proximity formation flying via linear quadratic tracking controller and artificial potential function

Palacios

Ceriotti

Radice

2015

Advances in Space Research

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A Riccati-based tracking controller with collision avoidance capabilities is presented for proximity operations of spacecraft formation flying near elliptic reference orbits. The proposed dynamical model incorporates nonlinear accelerations from an artificial potential field, in order to perform evasive maneuvers during proximity operations. In order to validate the design of the controller, test cases based on the physical and orbital features of the Prototype Research Instruments and Space Mission Technology Advancement (PRISMA) will be implemented, extending it to scenarios with multiple spacecraft performing reconfigurations and on-orbit position switching. The results show that the tracking controller is effective, even when nonlinear repelling accelerations are present in the dynamics to avoid collisions, and that the potential-based collision avoidance scheme is convenient for reducing collision threat.

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Virtual Formation Method for Precise Autonomous Absolute Orbit Control

Cited by 10 publications

References 18 publications

Autonomous Optimal Absolute Orbit Keeping through Formation Flying Techniques

Autonomous Optimal Absolute Orbit Keeping through Formation Flying Techniques

Autonomous Phase Control Combining EKF and Adaptive Neural Network for Remote Sensing Satellites

Close proximity formation flying via linear quadratic tracking controller and artificial potential function

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