Dynamic Air-Bearing Hardware-in-the-Loop Testbed to Experimentally Evaluate Autonomous Spacecraft Proximity Maneuvers

Experimental evaluation of model predictive control and inverse dynamics control for spacecraft proximity and docking maneuvers

“…These vehicles float via three planar air bearings over a 4-by-4 m granite table. Due to the air bearings as well as the planarity and horizontallity of the granite surface, the FSS experiences a weightless and a quasi-frictionless motion in two translation and one rotation degree-of-freedom, i.e., planar motion [4]. Figure 2 shows the target, chaser, and obstacle FSS over the POSEI-DYN granite surface in the initial conditions used for this particular comparative study.…”

“…The position and attitude information provided by this system is augmented by an onboard one-axis fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG) using a discrete-time Kalman filter [4]. Communications among multiple FSS, the VICON workstation, and other external PCs (used for telemetry monitoring) is achieved via UDP streams over an ad hoc Wi-Fi network [32].…”

“…An experimental campaign to evaluate the performance of the model predictive control (MPC) and inverse dynamics in the virtual domain (IDVD) guidance methods has been performed at the Naval Postgraduate School POSEI-DYN 1 air-bearing test bed [4]. The focus of this research is limited in scope to the guidance and control of the simulated spacecraft.…”

“…The navigation problem is solved by the POSEIDYN test bed motion capture system, which, augmented by onboard sensors, is used to provide accurate navigation data. The test vehicles operating in the POSEI-DYN test bed float on top of a 4-by-4 m granite table and exhibit a drag-free and weightless motion on a plane [4]. These test vehicles are referred to as floating spacecraft simulators, or simply as FSS.…”

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Ground-based experimental evaluations of emerging guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) approaches may be used to raise their technological readiness level and determine their performance and limitations on flight-equivalent hardware (i.e., sensors, actuators, and computational systems) [2].An experimental campaign to evaluate the performance of the model predictive control (MPC) and inverse dynamics in the virtual domain (IDVD) guidance methods has been performed at the Naval Postgraduate School POSEI-DYN 1 air-bearing test bed [4]. The focus of this research is limited in scope to the guidance and control of the simulated spacecraft.

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