Sharif Digital Repository

In this thesis, autonomous orbit estimation of regional navigation satellites has been investigated. Estimation of satellite orbit is an integral part of satellite navigation, which may be executed via assistance of ground station. As the satellite is exposed to the ground station view, range, direction and rate of range is measured by mean of ranging instrumentation relative to ground reference, hence the precise position is calculated. In this thesis a set of satellites are investigated in a unique structure called constellation with the purpose of navigation. The occurrence which is likely to happen in this condition, is the failure of ground station under certain circumstances or losing... 

This research aims to introduce a new integrated fault tolerant attitude control system of satellites based on the neural networks. First, a linear controller and an optimal controller are designed assuming that no fault occurs in the reaction wheels of the satellite. It is obvious that these controllers are not able to respond properly when a fault occurs. Therefore, artificial neural networks are employed in the fault tolerant controller design. Neural networks are well-known for their adaptiveness and the ability to learn the dynamics of a system. Therefore, they can be used to predict the faulty conditions. In this research two approaches are examined to deal with the faulty conditions.... 

In this thesis, the optimal trajectories of a spacecraft in the binary asteroids system is studied. The objective functions of optimal trajectories in these system are the maximum coverage of the asteroids surface and minimum time and fuel consumption. For this purpose, the dynamic of binary system is modeled. The binary system of 1999 KW4 is selected as a case study. The ellipsoid-sphere model is a good approximation for the case of this study. In this model, the asteroids orbit in a circular orbit around each other in a spin-spin-orbit resonance configuration, in which the asteroids’ rotational velocity is equal to orbital mean motion. Then, the equations of motion of the spacecraft as the... 

The estimation of attitude and deformation of a flexible satellite using magnetometer and sun sensor data are studied in this thesis. To this end, the dynamical differential equations of the flexible satellite have been derived using Lagrange’s equation. These equations of motion are then utilized for the purpose of simulation and verification. After introducing the measurements equations, the observability of the satellite with flexible panels has been evaluated. Afterward, the attitude of the satellite body and deformation of the flexible panels have been estimated by EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) as well as UKF (Unscented Kalman Filter). The results show that the estimations using UKF are... 

In this thesis, a control method to cope with the fault in the two-satellite two-tether satellite systems has been proposed to avoid failing the mission in the case one tether is torn. A new model for the tethered satellite system with two tethers has been developed to show the effects of tethers’ tension forces in the attitude dynamics. One of the main features of this model is the ability of changing the tethers’ connection points to the co-satellite for attitude control purposes. As a result, tethers’ tension forces are used as control actions to reduce the fuel consumption. The introduced coupled tethered satellite system has been controlled using the model predictive control method.... 

In this research an ANFIS controller will be developed to rendezvous and dock with a non-cooperative spacecraft; the controller must make the spacecraft reach the velocity and nearby position of the target spacecraft. Due to uncertainty in modeling and changes in the moment inertia tensor, the controller must be able to adapt with these changes and uncertainty, these changes may happen because of robotic arm or solar panel movings. Robustness of the controller will be evaluated by applying orbital disturbances and modeling errors through monte-carlo simulations. To model the spacecraft the specifications of a known spacecraft will be used but some specifications may be studied parametricaly.... 

This thesis focuses on the detection and estimation of faults occurring in one of the reaction wheel axes of a three-axis stabilized satellite. The wheel axes are aligned with the satellite's body axes, and the emphasis is on the attitude (rather than position) of the satellite. The primary goal of the subsystem is to determine and control the satellite's attitude, transitioning from its initial state to a desired Earth-pointing state. It is assumed that environmental disturbances, including gravitational disturbances and Drag related disturbances, are considered. Based on this, a PID controller is designed after modeling the nonlinear kinematics and dynamics of the satellite using Euler... 

The primary purpose of this research is to model, control and simulate a flexible and fully actuated satellite, equipped with twelve on-off thruster actuators, in rendezvous and docking maneuver. Flexibility of the satellite is modeled by considering two flexible and asymmetrical multi section solar panels with rotational springs and dampers in joints, attached to a central rigid body. Solar panel sections have been modeled in the form of Euler-Bernoulli beam by using assumed mode method and taking into account finite bending mode-shapes. The governing differential equations are obtained using Lagrange method. Then, the dynamic model is validated by comparing the simulation results of the... 

In this study, two conventional methods for controlling flexible two-link robots based on artificial neural networks is improved. The first method is implemented by combining fuzzy logic and reinforcement learning in the form of a neural network. This method is modified in two steps. In the first step, the system feedback is changed and in the second step, the system Jacobin is used. This Jacobin can be the result of system identification. In the second method, an optimal controller is proposed for the system, which is also implemented in the form of a neural network. The performance of the neural-optimal controller is further improved by redefining the Bellman's principle of optimality.... 

In comparison to attitude control of a satellite which is widely used in practical missions, orbit control (espescialy autonomous orbit control) has been only recently paid attention. Autonomous, on-board orbit control, also called autonomous stationkeeping, means the automatic maintenance of all of orbital elements by the satellite itself. In this thesis, an autonomous absolute orbit control strategy for a single Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite is presented. When the satellite violates the control trigger error limits, then the controller is activated and calculates a sequence of orbital maneuvers that move the satellite towards its desired states. The absolute orbit control of the... 

In this thesis, active guidance of a reentry vehicle using fuzzy logic is investigated. The guidance commands of the reentry vehicle (pitch and bank angles) are computed based on estimation of the final conditions, including range and cross-range errors and time-to-go. The final conditions are predicted utilizing a neural network. Inputs of this neural network are the current states of the vehicle and flight time. The first advantage of this approach is that no reference trajectory is required, which is mostly generated optimally for ideal conditions. Moreover, the methods based on keeping the nominal trajectory produce severe guidance commands for sudden disturbances (e.g. wind gusts),... 

In this thesis, the orbit determination of Low Earth Orbits (LEO) using the integrated magnetometer and horizon sensor data has been investigated. Orbit determination is an essential part of a space mission. Not only the modeling, guidance, navigation and control errors may results in error in injecting the satellite into its nominal orbit, the environmental disturbances deviate the satellite from its predicted orbit and from an operational perspective most satellites need continuous orbit determination. Traditionally, ground based orbit determination is used which are non-autonomous and expensive and just can be used for specific times which the satellite can be observed from the ground... 

In this thesis the attitude dynamics, simulation and control of a flexible satellite with CMG (Control Moment Gyro) actuator in three-dimensional slew and rest-to-rest maneuvers have been studied. The flexible satellite is modeled as a rigid hub and two flexible appendages. The bending and torsion of the flexible panels have been considered. The equations of motion have been derived using the Lagrange method and assumed-modes approach is utilized for converting the partial differential equations of structural dynamics into an ordinary differential equation set. The MATLAB and SIMULINK software has been used for simulation and validation of the equations of motion. The simulation and control... 

Chaotic and resonant Dynamics of full two body problem are investigated through the sphere-ellipsoid and ellipsoid-ellipsoid models. The fourth-order mutual gravitational potential function is derived in terms of the first-order moment of inertia for both models. Employing Hamiltonian formulation and elliptical expansion, the resonant angles appear in the equations which include secondary’s attitude and mean anomaly for sphere-ellipsoid model and attitude of both bodies and mean anomaly for ellipsoid-ellipsoid model. In first step, resonances overlapping criteria is applied to the first-order resonances of sphere-ellipsoid model and the effect of the asphericity and orbital eccentricity on... 

In this thesis, satellite aided capture of spacecraft around Jupiter is optimized with the final goal of capture into a circular orbit around Europa. The cost functions of the multi-objective optimization process that should be minimized are: 1) summation of the propulsive ΔVs, 2) the total duration of the capture scenario, and 3) the integral flux of the energetic electrons and protons during the maneuvers. In this study, the spacecraft trajectory is modeled by patched conics method and is optimized by metaheuristic methods of genetic algorithm and simulated annealing. In some cases, interior point method is used for improving the final converged solution. Due to the limitations of... 

In this thesis, the problem of failure-tolerant control of the satellite in coupled orbital and rotational motion is investigated. All of the actuators of the satellite are thrusters and only the failure of the actuators is considered. At first, the equations of coupled relative translational-rotational motion of the satellite are derived. Then, the required specifications of the approapriate control method for the problem is explored with the conclution that the controller must be able to predict the behavior or planning the future trajectory of the satellite. In the next step, model predictive control, which has the required specifications, is used to control the coupled... 

In this study the control allocation with failure tolerance capability in satellite attitude control using Control Moment Gyro (CMG) actuators is investigated. The pyramid configuration is utilized for arrangement of the actuators. Moreover, considering the singularity of the CMGs, controller is designed based on the angular velocity of the gimbals as the controller output, which prevents the singularity of the actuators. The controller is designed based on the optimal control approach and its cost function is the minimum control effort. The response of the system to the optimal controller in two cases of with or without failure of one actuator is investigated and is compared with the... 

In this thesis, firstly we have developed a coupled dynamic for the orbit and attitude of a solar sail. Secondly, we found an optimal trajectory from the Earth to Mars and tried to control the system on the optimal trajectory by a control mechanis which moves the center of mass of the sail. The solar sail is considered to be rigid and Ideally reflective which means the sail reflects the full extent of the photons it receives. Adjusting the center of mass of the sail is done by changing the position of two sliding masses rode on two rails perpendicular to each other. Moving the center of mass of the sail brings about a change in the attitude of the sail which then causes a deflection in the... 

One of the most interesting and at the same time the newest methods to launch a satellite into space is Air Launch or Launch throw the mother aircraft. The placement of the satellite into space by a rocket in specific altitude and speed is separated from the mother aircraft, takes place. The most problems in multi stage rocket launching is trajectory optimization to reaching the maximum height. The survey was conducted using classical optimization methods, which is derived the equations for the gradient based on the calculus of variations. that can be used or modified for emissions control wings and changing the direction of thrust exhaust. It should be noted that in the model of rigid body... 

In this thesis a novel non-rotating space tethered configuration is introduced which its relative positions are controlled using electromagnetic forces. The attitude dynamics is controlled by three reaction wheels in the body axes. The nonlinear coupled orbital dynamics of a dumbbell tethered satellite formation flight are derived through a constrained Lagrangian approach. These equations are presented in the leader satellite orbital frame. The advantage of using equations in the Cartesian coordinate system over presenting the equations of satellite formation plane angles is the appearance of gravity gradient and Earth’s magnetic field effects. The tether is assumed to be mass-less and...