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A Distributed Guidance And Control System For Satellite Constellations

Award Information

Agency:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 		Branch:
N/A 		Award ID:
56607 		Program Year/Program:
2002 / SBIR
Agency Tracking Number:
013489 		Solicitation Year:
N/A 		Solicitation Topic Code:
N/A 		Solicitation Number:
N/A
Small Business Information
Accurate Automation Corporation
7001 Shallowford Road Chattanooga, TN -
View profile »
Woman-Owned: No
Minority-Owned: No
HUBZone-Owned: No
 
Phase 2
Fiscal Year: 2002
Title: A Distributed Guidance And Control System For Satellite Constellations
Agency: NASA
Contract: NAS5-02109
Award Amount: $599,992.00
 

Abstract:

Accurate Automation Corporation has developed a distributed adaptive guidance and control architecture for minimum Delta-V formation flying of satellite constellations. The innovation in this approach is that it is an extremely streamlined solution to a very difficult guidance and control problem. The guidance module of the proposed architecture is built around a simulation of a system of particles whose motion is a result of attractive and repulsive forces generated through simulated potential fields. Desirable characteristics of the guidance system are: 1) that a large number of satellites, starting at some initial conditions, can move amongst themselves to some desired final conditions with a guarantee that undesirable interactions between individual satellites will not occur, 2) that the path taken by each individual satellite can be achieved using minimum Delta-V, and 3) that the guidance system is distributed. In order to guarantee stability for the satellite constellation as a whole, we designed a distributed satellite control module with a specifiable convergence rate. This in combination with our ability to specify the convergence rate of the guidance module, allows us to ensure that each satellite will stay within a certain distance of its commanded path (tracking error has a known bound).

Principal Investigator:

James C. Neidhoefer
Principal Investigator
4238944646
jneidhoe@accurate-automation.com

Business Contact:

Reba Pap
Business Official
4238944646
rpap@accurate-automation.com
Small Business Information at Submission:

Accurate Automation Corporation
7001 Shallowford Road Chattanooga, TN 37421

EIN/Tax ID: 621371359
DUNS: N/A
Number of Employees:
Woman-Owned: No
Minority-Owned: No
HUBZone-Owned: No