Spacecraft Formation Control via Polytope MPC
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in efficiently maneuvering spacecraft to maintain formation while minimizing fuel consumption, especially with limited communication bandwidth and computing resources.
Innovation Solution
The method employs model predictive control (MPC) combined with polytope boundaries to calculate and maintain optimized guidance trajectories for spacecraft formations. It calculates a virtual point representing a spacecraft formation and iteratively determines inner polytope boundaries, maneuvering the spacecraft to prevent boundary breaches and minimize fuel consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If traditional control methods are used for spacecraft formation maneuvering, then fuel consumption is high, but the system complexity and computational burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the continuous control problem into a discrete parameter optimization problem by defining polytope boundaries and using model predictive control to select optimal control parameters from a finite set, thereby reducing computational complexity while minimizing fuel consumption through efficient parameter selection
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the control space into discrete polytope regions with defined boundaries, allowing the spacecraft to navigate through a simplified geometric framework rather than continuous control adjustments, which reduces computational burden while maintaining fuel efficiency
2Productivity
If autonomous operation is implemented on spacecraft, then ground station computational burden is reduced, but on-board computing resources are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex computational optimization problem from the ground station and implements it autonomously on the spacecraft using simplified polytope-based model predictive control algorithms that can be executed with limited on-board computational resources while maintaining high control efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The spacecraft performs autonomous formation maintenance and maneuvering decisions using on-board polytope boundary calculations and model predictive control, eliminating the need for continuous ground station intervention and reducing ground-based computational burden
Data Source
AI summary
For maneuvering a spacecraft, a method calculates a virtual point that represents a plurality of spacecraft orbiting in a spacecraft formation. The method further iteratively calculates an inner polytope boundary relative to the virtual point for a given spacecraft of the plurality of spacecraft. In response to determining the inner polytope boundary will be breached, the method maneuvers the given spacecraft to within the inner polytope boundary based on a switching condition, a guidance law, and model predictive control to minimize fuel consumption.