A spacecraft including a set of thrusters for changing a pose of the spacecraft. At least two thrusters mounted on a gimbaled boom assembly and are coupled together sharing the same gimbal angle. A model predictive controller (MPC) to produce a solution for controlling thrusters of the spacecraft by optimizing a cost function over a receding horizon using a model of dynamics of the spacecraft effecting a pose of the spacecraft and a model of dynamics of momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft effecting an orientation of the spacecraft. A modulator to modulate magnitudes of the thrust of the coupled thrusters determined by the MPC as pulse signals specifying ON and OFF states of each of the coupled thruster, wherein the ON states of the coupled thrusters sharing the same gimbal angle do not intersect in time. A thruster controller to operate the thrusters according to their corresponding pulse signals.
Model predictive control of spacecraft
2021-04-06
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | G05D SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES , Systeme zum Steuern oder Regeln nichtelektrischer veränderlicher Größen / B64G Raumfahrt , COSMONAUTICS / G06Q Datenverarbeitungssysteme oder -verfahren, besonders angepasst an verwaltungstechnische, geschäftliche, finanzielle oder betriebswirtschaftliche Zwecke, sowie an geschäftsbezogene Überwachungs- oder Voraussagezwecke , DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTING PURPOSES |