Automatic mass balancing system for a dynamic CubeSat attitude simulator: development and experimental validation

Automatic Balancing for Satellite Simulators with Mixed Mechanical and Magnetic Actuation

“…We start from a balanced platform which underwent multiple iterations of the twostep algorithm developed in [13]. Before beginning each test, a known offset is created in the horizontal plane by commanding the same fixed position to the sliding masses.…”

“…In this work, we focus on the real-time in-plane balancing, which is the first of the two-step procedures developed in [13] and is recalled in the Introduction, whose objective is to align the CM-to-CR offset to the z (out-of-plane) body axis. The main assumptions…”

“…In this work, we focus on the real-time in-plane balancing, which is the first of the two-step procedures developed in [13] and is recalled in the Introduction, whose objective is to align the CM-to-CR offset to the z (out-of-plane) body axis. The main assumptions retained for the mathematical modeling of the system dynamics are the same as described in [13] and will be omitted here for brevity, stating only the main results.…”

“…Alternatively, a two-step procedure can be implemented, in which in-plane balancing is followed by the estimation and compensation of the vertical offset [11,12]. This approach was followed in [13,14], where an automatic balancing system (ABS) was designed and tested as part of a three-degrees-of-freedom simulator for ADCS verification of CubeSats. The ABS employed three sliding masses independently actuated by three stepper motors.…”

“…Despite ABS based solely upon shifting masses having been proven to be effective in several works [5,6,[11][12][13]19], they do have their own limitations. For example, the motors driving the masses have limited response time, and suffer from backlash.…”