Design and integration of a solar AMTEC power system with anadvanced global positioning satellite

A 1,200-W solar AMTEC (alkali metal thermal-to-electric conversion) power system concept was developed and integrated with an advanced global positioning system (GPS) satellite. The critical integration issues for the SAMTEC with the GPS subsystems included: (1) packaging within the Delta II launch vehicle envelope; (2) deployment and start-up operations for the SAMTEC; (3) SAMTEC operation during all mission phases; (4) satellite field of view restrictions with satellite operations; and (5) effect of the SAMTEC requirements on other satellite subsystems. The SAMTEC power system was compared with a conventional planar solar array/battery power system to assess the differences in system weight, size, and operations, Features of the design include the use of an advanced multitube, vapor anode AMTEC cell design with 24% conversion efficiency, and a direct solar insolation receiver design with integral LiF salt canisters for energy storage to generate power during the maximum solar eclipse cycle, The modular generator design consists of an array of multitube AMTEC cells arranged into a parallel/series electrical network with built-in cell redundancy. Our preliminary assessment indicates that the solar generator design is scaleable over a 500 to 2,500-W range. No battery power is required during the operational phase of the GPS mission. SAMTEC specific power levels greater than 5 We/kg and 160 We/m² are anticipated for a mission duration of 10 to 12 years in orbits with high natural radiation backgrounds     

An Overview of the Fast Auroral SnapshoT (FAST) Satellite

The FAST satellite is a highly sophisticated scientific satellite designed to carry out in situ measurements of acceleration physics and related plasma processes associated with the Earth's aurora. Initiated and conceptualized by scientists at the University of California at Berkeley, this satellite is the second of NASA's Small Explorer Satellite program designed to carry out small, highly focused, scientific investigations. FAST was launched on August 21, 1996 into a high inclination (83°) elliptical orbit with apogee and perigee altitudes of 4175 km and 350 km, respectively. The spacecraft design was tailored to take high-resolution data samples (or `snapshots') only while it crosses the auroral zones, which are latitudinally narrow sectors that encircle the polar regions of the Earth. The scientific instruments include energetic electron and ion electrostatic analyzers, an energetic ion instrument that distinguishes ion mass, and vector DC and wave electric and magnetic field instruments. A state-of-the-art flight computer (or instrument data processing unit) includes programmable processors that trigger the burst data collection when interesting physical phenomena are encountered and stores these data in a 1 Gbit solid-state memory for telemetry to the Earth at later times. The spacecraft incorporates a light, efficient, and highly innovative design, which blends proven sub-system concepts with the overall scientific instrument and mission requirements. The result is a new breed of space physics mission that gathers unprecedented fields and particles observations that are continuous and uninterrupted by spin effects. In this and other ways, the FAST mission represents a dramatic advance over previous auroral satellites. This paper describes the overall FAST mission, including a discussion of the spacecraft design parameters and philosophy, the FAST orbit, instrument and data acquisition systems, and mission operations.     

有人机/无人机协同任务控制系统

针对有人机/无人机协同任务控制系统的设计和实现问题展开研究。结合有人机/无人机协同控制过程的特点,提出了基于自然语言接口方式的有人机/无人机协同任务控制系统结构。在此基础上,分析了系统模块的关键内容,设计了面向有人机与无人机交互过程的任务指令格式,提出了基于优先级的任务模式调度策略,针对无人机的典型任务模式,讨论了航路规划的计算方法选择,最后构建了有人机/无人机协同任务仿真环境。仿真试验结果验证了整体方法的可行性。     

Aircraft flight control system design under state and controlbounds

Sophisticated control configurations are needed to meet the mission and pilotage requirements for advanced aircraft. The required vehicle performance during low altitude, low speed and high angle of attack flight, all-weather, day and night operations must be achieved, and new control technologies should be developed. This work presents a systematic control design philosophy for flight control systems when the state variables and control inputs are bounded by the prespecified constraints. The design procedure uses the dynamic programming concept. The fundamental idea involves minimization of nonquadratic functionals. A new representation of constraints is proposed using the smooth functions. The advantages of the synthesis approach are presented. To illustrate the design methodology the longitudinal control configuration for the F-18 fighter is synthesized     

Simultaneous state and actuator fault estimation for satellite attitude control systems

In this paper, a new nonlinear augmented observer is proposed and applied to satellite attitude control systems. The observer can estimate system state and actuator fault simultaneously. It can enhance the performances of rapidly-varying faults estimation. Only original system matrices are adopted in the parameter design. The considered faults can be unbounded, and the proposed augmented observer can estimate a large class of faults. Systems without disturbances and the fault whose finite times derivatives are zero piecewise are initially considered, followed by a discussion of a general situation where the system is subject to disturbances and the finite times derivatives of the faults are not null but bounded. For the considered nonlinear system, convergence conditions of the observer are provided and the stability analysis is performed using Lyapunov direct method. Then a feasible algorithm is explored to compute the observer parameters using linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated by considering an example of a closed-loop satellite attitude control system. The simulation results show satisfactory perfor-mance in estimating states and actuator faults. It also shows that multiple faults can be estimated successfully.     

小卫星/小运载可重构多核计算机设计

通过共用小卫星与小运载的电子系统,能够降低卫星发射成本、实现卫星与运载的快速集成及测试、减少卫星的发射与入轨时间,从而达到快速响应自然灾害等突发事件的目的。传统航天器电子系统难以兼顾运载段任务的高实时性和在轨段任务的高可靠性要求,因此本文将多核处理器技术、可重构技术和航天器电子系统设计相结合,提出了基于可重构技术的小卫星/小运载多核计算机设计方案。该设计方案分为运载和在轨两种工作模式,通过现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)的快速重构来实现计算机两种工作模式的快速切换。其中运载模式将FPGA配置成并行构架的三核处理器,通过3个处理器并行计算来提升计算机的处理能力;在轨模式将FPGA配置成冗余构架的三核处理器,通过3个处理器互为冗余备份来提升计算机的长期可靠性。经过基于Markov过程理论的系统可靠性分析,表明系统在轨段的长期可靠性得到显著提升。同时经过地面半物理仿真系统仿真测试,运载段的控制周期可以达到10ms,满足运载段任务的实时性要求。     

Orbital and Attitude Prediction Accuracy Requirements for Satellites

This paper examines the criteria for selecting the orbital and attitude prediction accuracy requirements for communications satellites. The accuracy requirements have been analyzed in terms of the various space operations involved, e.g., satellite acquisition, guidance and control, communications, telemetry, and command. It is hoped that the findings of this investigation will prove useful in satellite mission planning and design, thereby facilitating a judicious choice of the various satellite and ground components of the related subsystems.     

Robust decentralized control design for aircraft engines: A fractional type

A new decentralized control for aircraft engines is proposed. In the proposed control approach, aircraft engines are considered as uncertain large-scale systems composed of interconnected uncertain subsystems. For each subsystem, the time-varying uncertainty, including parameter disturbances and interconnections in/between subsystems, is depicted by a class of general nonlinear functions. A fractional robust decentralized control with two parts, the nominal one and the fractional one, is presented. The nominal control guarantees the asymptotical stability of the engine system without uncertainty. The fractional part aims at overcoming the influences of uncertainty. Compared to the previous studies, the presented control provides not only an extra flexibility for the system performance tuning by the fraction-type gain but also a facility for the control input calculation. The proposed control approach is applied to a turbofan engine with two subsystems. The computer simulation shows that, in the flight envelope, the fractional control not only guarantees the closed-loop system uniform boundedness and ultimate uniform boundedness but also shows good economy.     

A Comparison of Solar-Cell and Battery-Type Power System for Spacecraft

The electrical power systems of orbiting unmanned spacecraft generally consist of energy-conversion devices in combination with energy-storage and conditioning components. The development of efficient pulse-duration modulation regulators suggests configurations smaller, lighter, and cheaper than conventional dissipative voltage regulators. These savings may or may not be realizable, depending upon the system reliability design goal and amount of redundancy required to meet the goal. Three spacecraft electrical power systems, each containing a solar-cell energy converter and using different voltage regulation schemes, are compared for a common mission specification. Each system is made to meet a given reliability goal by a technique that adds redundant components in a manner that minimizes a system design characteristic such as weight. The reliability design goal is kept constant as mission length is increased, permitting system comparison in terms of weight and cost as a function of time.     

Task planning for robotic manipulation in space applications

Space-based robotic systems will require novel technologies of planning and manipulation to accomplish complex tasks such as diagnosis, repair, and assembly task representation, discrete task planning, and control synthesis which provide a design environment for assembly systems, and which extend to planning of manipulation operations in unstructured environments. In this approach, assembly planning is carried out using the AND/OR graph representation which encompasses all possible partial orders of operations and may be used to plan assembly sequences. A novel algorithm for planning disassembly and repair using the AND/OR graph is introduced, and examples of repair sequences generated for a satellite electrical module are described. For discrete task planning, the configuration map facilitates search over discrete parameters in the space of bounded configuration sets     

Touring the Saturnian System

The Cassini mission to Saturn employs a Saturn orbiter and a Titan probe to conduct an intensive investigation of the Saturnian system. The orbiter flies a series of orbits, incorporating flybys of the Saturnian satellites, called the ‘satellite tour.’ During the tour, the gravitational fields of the satellites (mainly Titan) are used to modify and control the orbit, targeting from one satellite flyby to the next. The tour trajectory must also be designed to maximize opportunities for a diverse set of science observations, subject to mission-imposed constraints. Tour design studies have been conducted for Cassini over a period of several years to identify trades and strategies for achieving these sometimes conflicting goals. Concepts, strategies, and techniques previously developed for the Galileo mission to Jupiter have been modified, and new ones have been developed, to meet the requirements of the Cassini mission. A sample tour is presented illustrating the application of tour design strategies developed for Cassini. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Scheme design of the CHANG’E-5T1 extended mission

Flight schemes for the CHANG’E-5T1 extended mission are investigated in this paper. In the flight scheme and trajectory design, the remaining propellant of the CHANG’E-5T1 mission is utilized. The CHANG’E-5T1 mission is firstly introduced with feasible flight goals derived based on the terminal trajectory and satellite status. The flight schemes are designed to include a lunar return and the libration points in the Sun-Earth/Moon and Earth-Moon systems, with an emphasis on the Earth-Moon triangle libration point thus far unexplored. Secondly, three schemes are proposed for the CHANG’E-5T1 extended mission with different flight goals. The direct libration point orbit transfer and injection method is adopted to solve the issue in the transfer trajectory design. Furthermore, an innovative concept is proposed to transfer from the Earth-Moon collinear libration point to the triangle point using the Sun-Earth/Moon libration point. Finally, the merits and drawbacks of the three schemes are discussed in terms of flight time, control energy and frequency, flight distance, and goal value. As a result, the scheme including a lunar return and the Earth-Moon L2 libration point is selected for the CHANG’E-5T1 extended mission. A flight to the Earth-Moon libration point is achieved, replicating the achievement of the ARTEMIS mission.     

飞行器体系优化设计问题

针对传统的飞行器设计与体系（SOS）设计相互独立造成的飞行器实际作战效能不足的问题,对同时考虑飞行器与体系耦合设计的飞行器体系优化设计问题展开研究。首先,根据体系工程（SOSE）原理给出了耦合飞行器设计与体系结构设计的飞行器体系优化设计问题的基本概念与通用数学定义;其次,基于多层体系架构,构建了飞行器体系设计优化模型,提出了包含问题定义、体系架构建模、学科建模、优化求解4个步骤的通用建模求解流程;最后,以巡飞/精确打击武器协同作战为例,构建了面向任务成本最低、时间最短的协同作战体系最优化问题并对其进行优化求解。与先设计飞行器后设计体系结构的解耦设计结果对比表明,解耦优化设计忽略了体系结构与飞行器的强耦合特征,无法最优化体系效能;耦合优化设计能够获得体系效能最大化的飞行器设计方案。     

航天器控制高级语言的设计与实现

针对航天测控任务中存在的卫星控制人员手工操作多、任务准备周期长、自动化水平低等问题,在分析航天器控制流程的基础上,抽象出面向卫星控制人员的航天器控制高级语言,设计语言规范,描述Windows平台的编辑、编译、运行功能的设计与实现。该语言成功应用于某中心的卫星测控任务中,任务准备快速高效,大大减轻了卫星控制人员的工作量,任务过程自动执行,无需人工干预,提高了航天器控制过程的自动化水平。     

Confluence of navigation, communication, and control in distributedspacecraft systems

This research details the development of technologies and methodologies that enable distributed spacecraft systems by supporting integrated navigation, communication, and control. Operating at the confluence of these critical functions produces capabilities needed to realize the promise of distributed spacecraft systems, including improved performance and robustness relative to monolithic space systems. Navigation supports science data association and data alignment for distributed aperture sensing, multipoint observation, and co-observation of target regions. Communication enables autonomous distributed science data processing and information exchange among space assets. Both navigation and communication provide essential input to control methods for coordinating distributed autonomous assets at the interspacecraft system level and the intraspacecraft affector subsystem level. A technology solution to implement these capabilities, the Crosslink Transceiver, is also described. The Crosslink Transceiver provides navigation and communication capability that can be integrated into a developing autonomous command and control methodology for distributed spacecraft systems. A small satellite implementation of the Crosslink Transceiver design is detailed and its ability to support broad distributed spacecraft mission classes is described     

MICROSCOPE On-ground and In-orbit Calibration

The MICROSCOPE mission, to be launched in 2011, will perform the test of the universality of free fall (Equivalence Principle) to an accuracy of 10^?15. The payload consists of two sensors, each controlling the free fall of a pair of test masses: the first for the test of the Equivalence Principle (titanium/platinum), the second for performance verification (platinum/platinum). The capability to detect a faint violation signal of the EP test is conditioned upon the rejection of disturbances arising from the coupling and misalignments of the instrument vectorial outputs. Therefore the performance of the mission depends on the success of the series of calibration operations which are planned during the satellite life in orbit. These operations involve forced motion of the masses with respect to the satellite. Specific data processing tools and simulations are integral parts of the calibration and performance enhancement process, as are the tests operated on ground at the ZARM drop tower. The presentation will focus on the current status of the MICROSCOPE payload, the rationale for the in-orbit calibrations, the data processing operations and the tests performed at the ZARM drop tower.     

船载多目标模拟器的构建与应用

船载统一S频段（USB）测控系统是我国航天测控网的重要组成部分,承担着一箭单星或一箭多星的海上测控任务。从航天测量船执行多目标测控任务的特点出发,分析了测量船船载飞行目标模拟器的现状以及对多目标模拟器的需求。提出了在船载USB联试应答机的基础上,通过改造应答机的部分模块,构成多目标模拟器的方法,并成功地在某次实战任务中得到了应用。     

面向指标论证的战斗机突防效能评估

随着现代战争的体系化,战斗机性能的设计与优化开始结合具体作战任务,从作战效能的角度来分析.尤其是在概念设计阶段,基于作战仿真论证战斗机指标对整个设计过程和全寿命成本都有重要作用。本文提出了应用构造型仿真进行战技指标论证工作的方法论,并以AnyLogic软件为平台搭建了战斗机突防任务仿真框架,构建了突防战斗机与防空系统的Agent(智能体)行为模型,并对试验结果进行了敏度分析。最后,提出了后续进一步研究的方向。     

A novel approach of testability modeling and analysis for PHM systems based on failure evolution mechanism

Prognostics and health management (PHM) significantly improves system availability and reliability, and reduces the cost of system operations. Design for testability (DFT) developed concurrently with system design is an important way to improve PHM capability. Testability modeling and analysis are the foundation of DFT. This paper proposes a novel approach of testability modeling and analysis based on failure evolution mechanisms. At the component level, the fault progression-related information of each unit under test (UUT) in a system is obtained by means of failure modes, evolution mechanisms, effects and criticality analysis (FMEMECA), and then the failure-symptom dependency can be generated. At the system level, the dynamic attributes of UUTs are assigned by using the bond graph methodology, and then the symptom-test dependency can be obtained by means of the functional flow method. Based on the failure-symptom and symptom-test dependencies, testability analysis for PHM systems can be realized. A shunt motor is used to verify the application of the approach proposed in this paper. Experimental results show that this approach is able to be applied to testability modeling and analysis for PHM systems very well, and the analysis results can provide a guide for engineers to design for testability in order to improve PHM performance.     

任务可靠度的估算分析

飞机设计工作中一项十分重要的任务是产品可靠性设计，本文回顾了任务可靠性的基本概念，给出了能够确定飞机完成任务可能性的任务可靠度的估算方法。在此基础上，为说明任务可靠度估算的实际过程，本文最后对某型飞机电传控制系统任务可靠度进行了分析，并给出了分析结论。