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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Control Of A Spacecraft Using Mixed Momentum Exchange Devices, Blake J. Currie Oct 2014

Control Of A Spacecraft Using Mixed Momentum Exchange Devices, Blake J. Currie

Master's Theses

Hardware configurations, a control law, and a steering law are developed for a mixed hardware spacecraft that uses both control moment gyros and reaction wheels. Replacing one or more gyros in a spacecraft with a reaction wheel has potential for cost savings while still achieving much greater performance than using reaction wheels alone. Several simulated tests are run to compare the performance to a traditional all reaction wheel or all control moment gyro spacecraft, including analysis of failure modes and singular configurations. The mixed system performed similarly to all gyro systems, responding within 6% of the gyro system’s time for …


Feedback Speed Control Of A Small Two-Stroke Internal Combustion Engine That Propels An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Paul D. Fjare Aug 2014

Feedback Speed Control Of A Small Two-Stroke Internal Combustion Engine That Propels An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Paul D. Fjare

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) require intelligent control of their power source. Small UAV are typically powered by electric motors or small two-stroke internal combustion (IC) engines. Small IC engines allow for longer flight times but are more difficult to control and cause significant ground noise. A hybrid operation that uses the engine at high altitudes and the electric motors at low altitudes is desired. This would allow for extended flight with acceptable ground noise levels. Since the engine can not be restarted in the air it must be able to remain at idle for an extended time without stalling. A …


Modification Of The Cal Poly Spacecraft Simulator System For Robust Control Law Verification, Tomoyuki Kato Jun 2014

Modification Of The Cal Poly Spacecraft Simulator System For Robust Control Law Verification, Tomoyuki Kato

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly Spacecraft Dynamics Simulator, also known as the Pyramidal Reaction Wheel Platform (PRWP), is an air-bearing four reaction wheel spacecraft simulator designed to simulate the low-gravity, frictionless condition of the space environment and to test and validate spacecraft attitude control hardware and control laws through real-time motion tests. The PRWP system was modified to the new Mk.III configuration, which adopted the MATLAB xPC kernel for better real-time hardware control. Also the Litton LN-200 IMU was integrated onto the PRWP and replaced the previous attitude sensor. Through the comparison of various control laws through motion tests the Mk.III configuration …