A Distributed Guidance And Control System For Satellite Constellations
Award Information
Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Branch: N/A
Contract: NAS5-02109
Agency Tracking Number: 013489
Amount:
$599,992.00
Phase:
Phase II
Program:
SBIR
Awards Year:
2002
Solicitation Year:
N/A
Solicitation Topic Code:
N/A
Solicitation Number:
N/A
Small Business Information
7001 Shallowford Road, Chattanooga, TN, 37421
DUNS:
N/A
HUBZone Owned:
N
Woman Owned:
N
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged:
N
Principal Investigator
Name: James Neidhoefer
Title: Principal Investigator
Phone: (423) 894-4646
Email: jneidhoe@accurate-automation.com
Title: Principal Investigator
Phone: (423) 894-4646
Email: jneidhoe@accurate-automation.com
Business Contact
Name: Reba Pap
Title: Business Official
Phone: (423) 894-4646
Email: rpap@accurate-automation.com
Title: Business Official
Phone: (423) 894-4646
Email: rpap@accurate-automation.com
Research Institution
N/A
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). * Information listed above is at the time of submission. *