Engineering Commons^™

Analysis Of A Near Real-Time Optimal Attitude Control For Satellite Simulators, Ryan M. Patrick

Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic optimization of spacecraft attitude reorientation maneuvers can result in significant savings in attitude determination and control system size, mass, and power. Optimal control theory is generally applied using an open loop trajectory which is vulnerable to disturbances. A closed loop implementation of optimal control has been difficult to achieve due to the computational requirements needed to quickly compute solutions to the optimal control problem. This research focuses on evaluating a near real-time optimal control (RTOC) system for large angle slew maneuvers on the Air Force Institute of Technology's spacecraft simulator called SimSat. A near RTOC algorithm computes optimal control …