Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine July 2017 - 38

Reaction Control Thruster Configurations for a Three-Axis Attitude Control System

SUMMARIZATION
According to this paper, selecting proper configuration can
affect three-axis attitude control system performance, along
with other factors such as controller, modulator, and control
allocation algorithm. Based on the applied static and dynamic analysis, the following summarization can be derived.
In static behavior analysis, fuel consumption is the main
comparison criterion in all directions. Hence, there are some
slight rational differences between the results of static and
those of dynamic analysis, because in the latter, just a specific maneuver was investigated. In static behavior analysis,
configurations 13, 12, 14, 10, and 7-whereas in dynamic
behavior analysis, configurations 10, 13, 7, and 14-in turn
have the best performance from the aspect of fuel consumption. The static and dynamic analyses jointly show that configurations 1 and 9 have the worst performance from the
aspect of fuel consumption. It can be seen that the results of
the dynamic and static analyses are largely matched.
Figure 6.
Selecting a proper configuration necessitates considerThe bar chart comparing three selected configurations.
ing different aspects and factors. The most important factor
is the LR. Because the attitude control system with four and
lations are carefully carried out to evaluate the effects of the proposed
six thrusters has LR 0, any fault in thrusters will lead to failure of
RT configurations on attitude control system performance. The results
the system. In addition, it is apparent that the configurations with
show that closed-loop control stability is achieved in all proposed
four and six thrusters are the worst cases from the aspects of fuel
configurations, even in the presence of a large initial error. According
consumption and number of pulses. Because of the problems with
to considered factors, including the LR, fuel consumption, three-axis
the configurations with four and six thrusters, these types are not
tracking error, average number of pulses per thruster, average of pulse
recommended; however, adding thrusters subjects the system to exwidths, and linear displacement, configuration 10 has been selected as
tra weight, which would be a major problem in the design process.
the most suitable configuration for the current spacecraft.
The configurations with 16 thrusters do not have particular advantages over other ones, and neglecting them seems reasonable beREFERENCES
cause of the negative effects of additional weight. Relying on fuel
consumption data from static analysis and other performance indi[1] Kristiansen, R., and Hagen, D. Modelling of actuator dynamics for
ces, including three-axis tracking error, number and width of moduspacecraft attitude control. Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamlator pulses, and linear displacement, from dynamic analysis, it is
ics, Vol. 32, 3 (May 2009), 1022-1025.
suggested to use configuration 10, among the configurations with 12
[2] Chin, C., Shing Lau, M., Low, E., and Lee Seet, G. Design of thrustthrusters and LR 2, and configuration 7, among the configurations
ers configuration and thrust allocation control for a remotely operated
with 8 thrusters and the same LR, for the current upper-stage design.
vehicle. In Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE Conference on Robotics,
A bar chart is presented in Figure 6 to compare the normalized perAutomation & Mechatronics, 2006, 1-6.
formance criteria of three configurations. It can be seen that configu[3] T. I. Fossen, T. a. Johansen, and T. Perez, A Survey of Control Allocaration 10 uses 2% less fuel and 11% fewer pulses than configuration
tion Methods for Underwater Vehicles, in Underwater Vehicles, no.
7. In addition, the three-axis accuracy and linear displacement of
December, A. V. Inzartsev, Ed. InTech, 2008.
configuration 10 are better than for configuration 7. However, con[4] Veksler, A., Johansen, T. A., Borrelli, F., and Realfsen, B. Dynamic
figuration 7 has an average pulse width that is 5% better than that of
positioning with model predictive control. IEEE Transactions on Conconfiguration 10. On the whole, regarding the preceding interpretatrol Systems Technology, Vol. 24, 4 (Jul. 2016), 1340-1353.
tions and the point that configurations 13 and 14 subject the system
[5] Crawford, B. Configuration design and efficient operation of redunto the weight of additional 4 thrusters, the recommended configuradant multi-jet systems. In Proceedings of the Astrodynamics Confertion for the current upper stage is configuration 10.
ence, 1969.
[6]

CONCLUSION

[7]

The objective of this paper is to examine the effects of different configurations on the three-axis attitude control system performance using
RT. For this purpose, several configurations with thrusters in the same
plane have been selected from the similar samples of RT configurations
in successful space missions. The static and dynamic numerical simu38

[8]

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

Crawford, B. S. Operation and design of multi-jet space-craft control
systems. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 1969.
Jin, H.-P., Wiktor, P., and DeBra, D. B. An optimal thruster configuration design and evaluation for quick step. Control Engineering Practice, Vol. 3, 8 (1995), 1113-1118.
Shishika, D., Yim, J. K., and Paley, D. A. Robust Lyapunov control
design for bioinspired pursuit with autonomous hovercraft. IEEE
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JULY 2017



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