Development and verification of ground-based tele-robotics operations concept for Dextre

The Special Purpose Dextreous Manipulator (Dextre) is the latest addition to the on-orbit segment of the Mobile Servicing System (MSS); Canada's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS). Launched in March 2008, the advanced two-armed robot is designed to perform various ISS maintenance tasks on robotically compatible elements and on-orbit replaceable units using a wide variety of tools and interfaces. The addition of Dextre has increased the capabilities of the MSS, and has introduced significant complexity to ISS robotics operations. While the initial operations concept for Dextre was based on human-in-the-loop control by the on-orbit astronauts, the complexities of robotic maintenance and the associated costs of training and maintaining the operator skills required for Dextre operations demanded a reexamination of the old concepts. A new approach to ISS robotic maintenance was developed in order to utilize the capabilities of Dextre safely and efficiently, while at the same time reducing the costs of on-orbit operations. This paper will describe the development, validation, and on-orbit demonstration of the operations concept for ground-based tele-robotics control of Dextre. It will describe the evolution of the new concepts from the experience gained from the development and implementation of the ground control capability for the Space Station Remote Manipulator System; Canadarm 2. It will discuss the various technical challenges faced during the development effort, such as requirements for high positioning accuracy, force/moment sensing and accommodation, failure tolerance, complex tool operations, and the novel operational tools and techniques developed to overcome them. The paper will also describe the work performed to validate the new concepts on orbit and will discuss the results and lessons learned from the on-orbit checkout and commissioning of Dextre using the newly developed tele-robotics techniques and capabilities.     

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.     

Autonomous flight and navigation of VTOL UAVs: from autonomy demonstrations to out-of-sight flights

Future applications of UAV systems will depend on the aircraft autonomous behavior and decision capabilities. Search and Rescue is one complex possible mission and is here taken as a case study. The ReSSAC project is a multidisciplinary project at ONERA. Its main challenges are related to the architectures and algorithms for autonomous decision and information processing onboard UAVs that perform their mission in cooperation with operators. The feasibility demonstrations and results of the project are intended to be reused and extended in further studies, projects and collaborations. A first step of the project was to develop an autonomous control architecture for our two rotorcraft. In this paper, we present the current status and preliminary achievements of the ReSSAC project, especially some records of past experimental flights with our autonomous aircraft. We further discuss ongoing studies and research perspectives.     

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.     

Optimal heliostationary missions of high-performance sailcraft

The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive and systematic study of optimal trajectories by characterizing sailcraft heliostationary orbits through the statement of a minimum-time problem. An indirect method is applied to calculate the control laws that minimize the mission time. An important contribution is a comparison of realistic with simplified (ideal) sail force models and an attempt is made to describe these models through a unified, compact formulation. Two cases are considered, that is the final heliostationary distance is left free or it is constrained to assume a specified value. Also, the problem is solved for both circular and elliptical parking orbits.     

不同接触形式下轮盘叶片系统的振动响应分析

以某压气机盘片系统为研究对象,基于ANSYS软件,建立了接触模型、接触不分离模型和刚性连接模型3种榫连结构接触约束形式下的盘片有限元模型,分别对3种模型进行了固有特性的分析,对比了三者的共振频率和振型;在离心力和气流激振力作用下,对3种模型进行了振动响应分析,得到三者的位移响应和应力随转速的变化规律。研究结果表明:接触模型和接触不分离模型的固有特性一致性较好,而刚性连接模型和接触模型在高频段存在较大差异。同时,刚性连接模型和接触不分离模型能够极大地改善接触模型在低转速下的收敛性。     

无人飞行器地面移动目标跟踪系统研究现状与展望

无人飞行器地面移动目标跟踪系统是一项在军事和民用方面都具有广泛应用前景的非常重要的研究课题。首先分析了系统的特点，然后详细介绍了国内外无人飞行器地面移动目标跟踪系统的研究方法和现状，并指出其不足。最后，针对现有系统中控制方法的欠缺，提出了将仿人眼控制系统用于无人飞行器上的摄像机云台控制的新方法。     

A view finder control system for an earth observation satellite

A real time TV view finder is used on-board a low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite to manually select targets for imaging from a ground station within the communication footprint of the satellite. The attitude control system on the satellite is used to steer the satellite using commands from the groundstation and a television camera onboard the satellite will then downlink a television signal in real time to a monitor screen in the ground station. The operator in the feedback loop will be able to manually steer the boresight of the satellite's main imager towards interested target areas e.g. to avoid clouds or correct for any attitude pointing errors. Due to a substantial delay (in the order of a second) in the view finding feedback loop and the narrow field of view of the main imager, the operator has to be assisted by the onboard attitude control system to stabilise and track the target area visible on the monitor screen.This paper will present an extended Kalman filter used to estimate the satellite's attitude angles using quaternions and the bias vector component of the 3-axis inertial rate sensors (gyros). Absolute attitude sensors (i.e. sun, horizon and magnetic) are used to supply the measurement vectors to correct the filter states during the view finder manoeuvres. The target tracking and rate steering reaction wheel controllers to accurately point and with high agility stabilise the satellite, will be presented. The controller reference generator for the satellite-to-target attitude and rate vectors, as used by the reaction wheel controllers, will be derived.     

基于电阻抗层析成像的CFRP结构损伤检测

电阻抗层析成像（EIT）是一种新兴的碳纤维增强复合材料（CFRP）结构状态评估方法。通过将EIT技术应用于一种商用各向异性CFRP层合板,初步研究了EIT的结构损伤检测能力。利用COMSOL软件建立CFRP多种损伤模型,有限元分析获取三维场空间电势分布信息。为改进EIT技术对各向异性CFRP结构损伤的图像重构效果,采用嵌入式电极有效采集材料内部电信号;同时,提出一种改进的基于L1稀疏正则化的图像重建算法。另外建立一套基于数字万用表的嵌入式16电极的EIT硬件系统,利用EIT系统检测平台对简单CFRP损伤进行检测,结果显示损伤材料图像重建效果良好,证明EIT方法在CFRP结构损伤检测中的可行性。