Accuracy enhancement of the spherical actuator with a two-level geometric calibration method

This paper presents a two-level geometric calibration method for the permanent magnet （PM） spherical actuator to improve its motion control accuracy. The proposed actuator is com- posed of a stator with circumferential coils and a rotor with multiple PM poles. Due to the assembly and fabrication errors, the real geometric parameters of the actuator will deviate from their design values. Hence, the identification of such errors is critical for the motion control tasks. A two-level geometric calibration approach is proposed to identify such errors. In the first level, the calibration model is formulated based on the differential form of the kinematic equation, which is to identify the geometric errors in the spherical joint. In the second level, the calibration model is formulated based on the differential form of torque formula, which is to calibrate the geometric parameters of the magnetization axes of PM poles and coils axes. To demonstrate the robustness and availability of the calibration algorithm, simulations are conducted. The results have shown that the proposed two-level calibration method can effectively compensate the geometric parameter errors and improve the positioning accuracy of the spherical actuator.     

PI controller relay auto-tuning using delay and phase margin in PMSM drives

This paper presents an auto-tuning method for a proportion plus integral（PI） controller for permanent magnet synchronous motor（PMSM） drives, which is supposed to be embedded in electro-mechanical actuator（EMA） control module in aircraft. The method, based on a relay feedback with variable delay time, explores different critical points of the system frequency response.The Nyquist points of the plant can then be derived from the delay time and filter time constant.The coefficients of the PI controller can then be obtained by calculation while shifting the Nyquist point to a specific position to obtain the required phase margin. The major advantage of the autotuning method is that it can provide a series of tuning results for different system bandwidths and damping ratios, corresponding to the specification for delay time and phase margin. Simulation and experimental results for the PMSM controller verify the performance of both the current loop and the speed loop auto-tuning.     

Disturbance observer based model predictive control for accurate atmospheric entry of spacecraft

Facing the complex aerodynamic environment of Mars atmosphere, a composite atmospheric entry trajectory tracking strategy is investigated in this paper. External disturbances, initial states uncertainties and aerodynamic parameters uncertainties are the main problems. The composite strategy is designed to solve these problems and improve the accuracy of Mars atmospheric entry. This strategy includes a model predictive control for optimized trajectory tracking performance, as well as a disturbance observer based feedforward compensation for external disturbances and uncertainties attenuation. 500-run Monte Carlo simulations show that the proposed composite control scheme achieves more precise Mars atmospheric entry (3.8?km parachute deployment point distribution error) than the baseline control scheme (8.4?km) and integral control scheme (5.8?km).     

降低PLC系统峰均比的低复杂度改进SLM算法

针对信道慢时变特性及噪声复杂的特点,提出了适用于低压电力线通信的降低峰均比的改进算法.改进算法对原始输入序列中的部分数据进行循环移位来获得一系列不同的新数据序列;在每个新数据序列尾部插入相应的边带信息组成一个输入候选序列;对这一系列不同的输入候选序列分别实施傅里叶反变换,得到不同的输出序列;从中选择峰均比最小的用于传输,达到降低系统峰均比的目的.结果表明:改进算法能够有效地降低系统的峰均比,并且能够获得更好的误码率性能,同时具有比传统选择性映射方法更低的计算复杂度.     

Biomedical problems of EVA support during manned space flight to Mars

Current projects of manned missions to Mars are aimed to their realization in the second-third decades of this century. The purpose of this paper is to determine and review the main biomedical problems, that require a first and foremost decision for safety support of extravehicular activity (EVA) carried out by crewmembers of the Mars expedition. To a number of such problems the authors of the paper attribute a creation of adequate EVA equipment intended, first, for assembly of interplanetary spacecraft on the Earth orbit, performance of maintenance operations and scientific researches on the external surface of spacecraft during interplanetary flight and, secondly, for work on the Mars surface. New generation of space suits with low weight, high mobility and acceptable risk of decompression sickness must be as a central component of EVA equipment. The program for preparation to a Mars expedition also has to include special investigations in order to design the means and methods for a reliable protection of crew against space radiation, to elaborate the approach to medical monitoring and primary medical care during autonomous space mission, to maintain good health condition of crewmembers during EVA under the Mars gravity (0.38 g) after super long-term flight in weightlessness.     

Susan: A New Doppler Radionavigation System

SUSAN is a novel electronic Doppler navigation system which can be used with moving vehicles including aircraft, missiles, satellites, and ships. The system uses a technique of time delays and frequency multiplication to determine the rates of change of the Doppler frequency component present on a signal received from a moving vehicle. From this information the range and velocity of the vehicle can be determined with respect to a transmitting station whose position or ephemeris is known.     

Adaptive sliding mode control for six-DOF relative motion of spacecraft with input constraint

This paper addresses the synchronized control problem of relative position and attitude for spacecraft with input constraint. First, using dual quaternion, the kinematic and dynamic models of the six-degree-of-freedom relative motion of spacecraft are introduced. Second, a new adaptive sliding mode control scheme is proposed to guarantee the globally asymptotic convergence of relative motion despite the presence of control input constraint, parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. A detailed stability analysis of the resulting closed-loop system is included. Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed controller, which has the following properties: (1) explicit accounting for the problem of input constraint, (2) fast convergent rate and accurate results can be obtained, (3) no chattering phenomenon is present in the control torque and control force, (4) self-adaptive regulation law is dynamically adjusted to ensure the tracking errors tend to zero asymptotically, (5) the upper bounds of unknown variables are estimated dynamically.     

Singularity avoidance of control moment gyros by one-step ahead singularity index

A steering law of control moment gyros for spacecraft attitude control by using one-step ahead singularity index is addressed in this paper. In some recent studies, the null motion approaches or singularity robustness steering laws have been extensively investigated to avoid singular configurations for a control momentum gyro (CMG) cluster. As a novel approach different from them, the proposed approach is based on optimization technique by minimizing the one-step ahead singularity index. Modified approaches are also presented in this paper. The proposed one-step prediction method ultimately gives an optimized solution of gimbal rates with advanced ability to avoid a singularity. A singularity index for reliable computation of a gradient vector is also introduced. Finally, performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by numerical simulations.     

Design and Application of Discrete Sliding Mode Control with RBF Network-based Switching Law

This article proposes a novel approach combining exponential-reaching-law-based equivalent control law with radial basis function (RBF) network-based switching law to strengthen the sliding mode control (SMC) tracking capacity for systems with uncertainties and disturbances. First, SMC discrete equivalent control law is designed on the basis of the nominal model of the system and the adaptive exponential reaching law, and subsequently, stability of the algorithm is analyzed. Second, RBF network is used to form the switching law in a direct and online manner with sliding-mode-related inputs and by approximating evaluation function; and the method to adjust its parameters is devised. Finally, comparable experiments are carried out to verify the application of the proposed approach to an inner-axis driven by a direct current (DC) torque motor through extra-low speed servo for a high precision flight simulator, and the axis works under deteriorating conditions such as periodically fluctuating torques of motor, nonlinear friction, and time-varying model parameters. The results show that the combined SMC can effectively improve the servo performance, for instance, to a stable 0.000 08 (°)/s speed response, the tracking error would be within 0.000 08° in 98% of operating times. Moreover, the hybrid nature of the approach imparts the RBF network the features of removing offline training and ease to set initial parameters.     

Optimization Based on Convergence Velocity and Reliability for Hydraulic Servo System

This article presents an optimal hybrid fuzzy proportion integral derivative (HFPID) controller based on combination of proportion integral derivative (PID) and fuzzy controllers, by which the parameters could be evaluated by global optimization either in convergence velocity or in convergence reliability. Focusing on the nonlinear factors of hydraulic servo system, this article takes advantage of PID and fuzzy logic controller integrated with scaling factors to acquire precise tracking performances. To further improve the performances, it provides new developed optimization with rapid convergence to attain reliable approach probability. Focusing on the performance indictors of evolutionary algorithm, this article presents a new technique to predict reliability of the optimization algorithm. Statistics authenticates the effectiveness and robustness of the optimization. Further, many simulation and experimental results indicate that the optimal HFPID could acquire perfect immunity against parametric uncertainties with external disturbance.