Design and implementation of active Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem for ISRASAT1 cube satellite

Abstract

In satellites, the attitude determination and control subsystem is the module which is responsible for maintaining, monitoring and controlling the satellite attitude against the environmental disturbances torques, which affect the satellite orientation and leads to angular destabilization of the satellite while it is in orbit. ISRASAT1 project is a cube satellite research project that is run by the Institute of Space Research and Aerospace. The project aims to provide an educational and testing tool technology platform, implements satellite system that can be lunched in the nearest future. It is also intended for the investigation of the possibility of using low-cost cube satellites in the field of remote sensing. ISRASAT1 cube satellite utilized passive attitude control in the first version of its design. However, in its new version in order to satisfy accuracy requirements of major payloads, ISRASAT1 has been developed to be of active attitude control. The new attitude determination and control subsystem is responsible for ensuring that ISRASAT1 will be detumbled successfully after the launch, and keeps its orientation in the desired orientation as far as possible. In this paper; the design and implement of an active attitude determination and control subsystem for ISRASAT1 cube satellite are thoroughly presented and discussed. Different embedded software were used to simulate the attitude determination and control subsystem, which have shown good results.