Optics and Precision Engineering, Volume. 32, Issue 24, 3566(2024)
Key technology research on autonomous docking control simulation system for clustered spacecraft
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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Received: Aug. 15, 2024
Accepted: --
Published Online: Mar. 11, 2025
The Author Email: KANG Guohua (kanggh@nuaa.edu.cn)