On-earth testbed for implementation of attitude control laws

Abstract

The present attitude control testbed is intended to provide an experimental facility that, in certain senses, emulates the dynamics of in-orbit conditions and permits to evaluate path planning and feedback control algorithms for precise satellite manoeuvres in laboratory situ. This paper shows the feasibility of the approach and demonstrates how attitude control rules become compatible for both realms. Equations of motion for this internally and externally constrained nonholonomic system are studied in the modern setting of geometric mechanics. © 2011 IEEE.