Real-time Testing of Satellite Attitude Control With a Reaction Wheel Hardware-In-the-Loop Platform

TL;DR

This paper presents a real-time Hardware-in-the-Loop testing platform for satellite attitude control systems, integrating reaction wheel health estimation and failure simulation to validate control algorithms with actual hardware components.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive HIL testbed for satellite attitude control, including hardware integration, failure simulation methods, and lessons learned from real hardware testing.

Findings

Successful integration of reaction wheels with CAN bus communication.

Effective methods for inducing and analyzing reaction wheel failures.

Insights into real-time control validation with hardware-in-the-loop.

Abstract

We propose the Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) test of an adaptive satellite attitude control system with reaction wheel health estimation capabilities. Previous simulations and Software-in-the-Loop testing have prompted further experiments to explore the validity of the controller with real momentum exchange devices in the loop. This work is a step toward a comprehensive testing framework for validation of spacecraft attitude control algorithms. The proposed HIL testbed includes brushless DC motors and drivers that communicate using a CAN bus, an embedded computer that executes control and adaptation laws, and a satellite simulator that produces simulated sensor data, estimated attitude states, and responds to actions of the external actuators. We propose methods to artificially induce failures on the reaction wheels, and present related issues and lessons learned.