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Experimental Validation of Attitude Control Laws

A new Integrated Attitude Control Simulator (IACS) facility was constructed via a DURIP/AFOSR grant and is now being used to test several attitude control laws. The main component of this facility is a cylindrical platform located on a hemi-spherical air bearing that allows friction-free rotation about three axes. IACS includes a variety of actuators and sensors: gas thrusters, variable-speed controlled momentum gyros (which can operate solely in a reaction wheel (RW) or in a control momentum gyro (CMG) mode), a two-axial sun sensor, a high-precision three-axial rate gyro, a three-axial magnetometer, and a complementary inertial measurement unit. The facility offers a truly integrated attitude control system (IACS) for experimental testing of advanced attitude determination and control algorithms. This new facility has replaced a smaller first-generation simulator which is now used only for educational purposes.

Sponsors

This project is sponsored by NASA LaRC via the NIA initiative, AFOSR, AFRL and Northop-Grumman.

Selected Publications

Movies


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