Motion control of the satellite mounted robot arm which assures satellite attitude stability

Abstract

When a robot arm is mounted on a satellite to perform some tasks, the satellite’s attitude must be stabilized to retain the communication link and to generate electrical power from solar panels. It is not realistic to control the total system as one dynamic system, since the number of degrees of freedom becomes too large to be handled by state-of-the-art satellite mounted computers. This paper proposes a coordinated control between the satellite’s attitude control system and the robot-arm control system. The robot-arm control system estimates the angular momentum of the planned robot-arm’s motion. The satellite’s attitude control system will compensate for the reaction by using feed-forward control. The robot-arm controller also manages the motion plan of the robot arm in order not to disturb the satellite’s attitude stability.