Satellite Attitude Determination and Contol

Abstract

Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADCS) is one of the vital subsystem of satellites which has a significant role in performing satellites missions. On-Board Electronic (OBE) is the main part of this subsystem which executes attitude determination and control algorithms. In this paper design of OBE of ADCS in IUST-SAT is presented. Design of this equipment is carried out based on requirements and constraints which are extracted by hierarchical design procedure. Satisfying design constraints and achieving functional requirements simultaneously, is a major task, which is carried out successfully in this paper. Also for verification of performance of this equipment before a satellite's launch, in this paper a novel and low-cost real-time hardware in the loop test bed is provided. The presented test bed is capable of assessing ADCS's equipments in a real-time condition. Finally, performance of designed OBE is investigated by implementing detumbling and initial attitude acquisition control modes in the hardware in the loop test bed.