Navigation, Guidance, Control and Dynamics Commons^™

Guidance, Navigation And Control Of A Fly-By-Wire Transport Category Airship Designed For Hover Cargo Delivery, Harshad H. Lalan

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this thesis is to develop fly-by-wire pilot controls for a transport category airship propelled with six thrust vectoring engines, and to develop control laws to maintain position, heading, and attitude during hover and cargo operations. Owing to the large body area, most airships require that they be pointed into the wind to maintain their position. This research aims at controlling an airship attitude and position during hover cargo delivery, irrespective of the wind direction.

Control laws were developed for two primary modes of the airship: Flight (High Speed Mode) and Hover (Cargo Delivery Mode). Different sets of …

Implementation Of A Low Cost Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Inertial Navigation Solution, Charles Njenga

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this study is to develop a low cost navigation solution for General Aviation (GA) aircraft and flight testing aircraft. This low cost solution uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) coupled with an Inertial Navigation Solution (INS) to provide a more accurate, stable navigation solution that can be acceptable for aircraft navigation. Lab VIEW was utilized to perform data acquisition and computation. LabVIEW was the backbone software to perform real time computation. MATLAB ® Simulink ® was used to plot graphs for final analysis of the code. A software Kalman Filter was utilized to provide signal stability and …

Attitude Determination Using Imaging Lidar, Camille Decoust

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this study is to determine the attitude of an out of control object using a new technology called lidar (Light Ranging and Detection). As the number of spacecraft continues to grow, it is paramount to introduce a new type of autonomous on-orbit satellite inspection and repair involving docking. Traditional space vision technology is based on video systems. This method is limited by the necessity of operating when the target is illuminated by the sunlight or using its own source of illumination. The use of laser imaging technology offers an elegant solution to these challenges. This approach allows …

Control System Design And Simulation Of Spacecraft Formations Via Virtual Formation Approach, Pavan Donepudi

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The problem of formation control of multiple spacecraft using the virtual structure approach is studied. The thesis first summarizes the progress made in the area of spacecraft formation control and then provides an overview of the virtual structure method. Modifying earlier established control design techniques, new feedback laws are constructed to control both the rotational and translational motion of a group of spacecraft. Several computer simulations are performed to illustrate the effectiveness of the modified control laws. The ephemeris and attitude data files generated via Matlab are exported to Satellite Tool Kit (STK) to create 3D animations. Various formation scenarios …

Optimization Of Active Rendezvous Trajectories By Genetic Algorithms, Marie Emmanuelle Ricour

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

Trajectory optimization is and will remain a hot topic in the engineering field. Because analytical or exact solutions are often difficult and sometimes impossible to compute, there is a need for alternative and efficient methods. UnderWater Vehicles (UWV) trajectories and rendezvous trajectories of continuous low-thrust spacecraft are examined. One of the methods to solve such problems is the Genetic Algorithm (GA) method. In this work, a GA has been developed using Matlab®. It treats possible solutions to the studied problems as individuals and eventually converges to an optimal or near optimal solution. Genetic Algorithms have been used previously to solve …

Evaluation Of Probabilistic Methodology For Predicting Satellite Tracking Resources, Matthew Lynn Stubbe

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

This research evaluates a probabilistic methodology for estimating the ability of satellite tracking networks to provide tracking and data acquisition services to large constellations of satellites. This approach, developed by Hagar is evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations of optimal satellite contact scheduling on a tracking network for a certain class of satellites. The actual results of the scheduled Monte Carlo simulations were then compared to the predicted values computed with Hagar's methodology for a range constellation and network sizes. Comparison methods include percent difference, a Wilcoxon signed ranks test and a Mann-Whitney U test.

The Monte Carlo simulations were run …

Maneuvering Control Of A Spacecraft With Propellant Sloshing, Philip A. Savella

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

Propellant slosh has been a problem studied in spacecraft designs since the early days of large, liquid-fuel rockets. The conventional design solution involves physical structures inside the fuel tanks that limit propellant motion. Although effective, baffles and bladders add to spacecraft mass and structural complexity. In this research, the sloshing fuel mass is treated as an unactuated degree of freedom within a rigid body. Specifically, the propellant is modeled as a pendulum mass anchored at the center of a spherical tank. After obtaining the coupled equations of motion, several linear controllers are developed to achieve planar spacecraft pitch-maneuvers while suppressing …

Modeling And Slew-Maneuver Control Of A Flexible Spacecraft, Jeremy E. Eckhart

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

Slew-maneuver control problem is studied for a flexible spacecraft consisting of a rigid main body to which a long flexible appendage is attached. Nonlinear dynamical system models are developed using both distributed parameter modeling and discrete parameter modeling; these models are shown to be equivalent for appropriately chosen system parameters. Lyapunov-based nonlinear feedback controllers are designed for the control of rigid-body motion while suppressing the lowest frequency vibrational mode. In case of large-angle maneuvers, these nonlinear controllers are shown to outperform the linearization-based controllers including the filtered proportional-derivative (PD) controllers as well as the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controllers. Finally, …

An Experimental Investigation Of Direct And Indirect Viewing Of A Remote Manipulation, Stephen N. Plishka

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this study was to evaluate direct and indirect viewing of a remote manipulation. With continued exploration of inner and outer space, the ability to directly manipulate objects is lost due to the nature of operating in harsh environments. Remote viewing and operation of equipment is used in such things as the space shuttle manipulator arm, orthoscopic surgery, undersea exploration, and hazardous material management. Most of these operations do not have the luxury of direct viewing. This study will compare the effects of direct viewing vs. indirect viewing from three different viewing distances of 20cm, 60cm and 100cm.