Optics and Precision Engineering, Volume. 32, Issue 24, 3566(2024)

Key technology research on autonomous docking control simulation system for clustered spacecraft

Chuanxiao XU, Guohua KANG*, Junfeng WU, Xinyong TAO, Jiaqi WU, Jiayi ZHOU, and Yang WU
Author Affiliations
  • College of Astronautics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing211100, China
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    To address the issues of low accuracy and excessive complexity in ground-based three-degree-of-freedom air-floating platform simulations for autonomous spacecraft cluster docking experiments, we designed a continuous small-thrust, high-precision full-physical simulation system. This system was based on an embedded architecture and employed cascaded PID rotor propulsion control. Initially, a dynamic model for the ground-based full-physical simulation system, incorporating disturbance correction, was established. This model was developed based on the relative on-orbit dynamics of spacecraft clusters and the analysis of disturbances present in the ground simulation environment. A decoupled rotor propulsion system was then designed, which was integrated with a motion capture system, a master control host computer, and a lower control platform. The simulation spacecraft unit was developed using the μCOS operating system, and a three-degree-of-freedom motion control system was implemented based on a cascaded PID algorithm. Subsequent dual-spacecraft autonomous docking air-floating experiments were conducted to validate the system. The experimental results demonstrated that the simulation data generated by the dynamic model of the full-physical simulation system closely matched the experimental data. Specifically, the measured attitude pointing control accuracy of the ground simulation spacecraft was found to be no less than 0.1°, while the position control accuracy was no less than 1 mm. These results indicate that the developed system meets the high-precision requirements necessary for semi-physical simulation of autonomous spacecraft cluster docking. Furthermore, the successful implementation of this system provides a reference framework for the development of large-scale satellite cluster simulation systems. The approach described in this paper offers a practical solution for overcoming the challenges associated with ground-based simulations of spacecraft docking, ensuring both accuracy and system simplicity, which are crucial for advancing the study and development of spacecraft cluster operations.

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    Chuanxiao XU, Guohua KANG, Junfeng WU, Xinyong TAO, Jiaqi WU, Jiayi ZHOU, Yang WU. Key technology research on autonomous docking control simulation system for clustered spacecraft[J]. Optics and Precision Engineering, 2024, 32(24): 3566

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    Paper Information

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    Received: Aug. 15, 2024

    Accepted: --

    Published Online: Mar. 11, 2025

    The Author Email: KANG Guohua (kanggh@nuaa.edu.cn)

    DOI:10.37188/OPE.20243224.3566

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