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In this paper, the performance of a single-axis attitude control with pulse-width pulse-frequency (PWPF) modulation is enhanced using a modified proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller for a rigid satellite with on-off thruster actuators. For this purpose, the well-known observer-based PID approach is utilized. The on-off thruster actuator is modeled with a constant delay followed by a second-order binomial transfer function. The modulator update frequency is limited to 40 Hz as an input to the on-off thruster actuators. In this study, the design criteria of pointing accuracy, overshoot of the attitude response, fuel consumption, and the number of thruster firings are considered for a step external disturbance (with different values). The parameters of the observer-based PID controller are tuned using parametric search method. Simulation results show that the fuel consumption and settling time of the observer-based approach are considerably decreased with respect to those of PID controller with PWPF modulator. Moreover, the overshoot of the observer-based approach is omitted. Finally, the robustness of the observer-based modified PID controller is investigated in presence of uncertainties in satellite moment of inertia and thrust level of on-off actuators.

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In this paper, the preferred regions of pulse-width pulse-frequency (PWPF) modulator parameters are obtained based on zero-input, static, and dynamic analysis in the presence of sensor noise as an input noise to PWPF modulator. The design parameters are reduced to 3 by using the quasi-normalized equations of PWPF modulator. Therefore, the results are applicable for grouped parameters, regardless of the value of each parameter, separately. Moreover, the computational burden is highly decreased, especially in a statistical analysis. The input noise of the modulator is constructed by a low pass filter driven by a white Gaussian noise. The fuel consumption and number of thruster firings are considered as performance indices. The modulator output frequency is also limited to 50 Hz. The preferred regions of quasi-normalized system are extracted based on eliminating the upper 30% (and 10%) of the plotted graphs for the above-mentioned performance indices. Finally, the preferred regions can simply be viewed in our resulting curves, i.e., normalized hysteresis plotted versus normalized PWPF on-threshold for different values of modulator time constant. Each of these curves is plotted for a specified value of input noise power spectral density.

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In this paper, a linear dynamic model for a reaction wheel is identified using experimental analysis. To do this, online input-output data of reaction wheel is sent and received by CAN protocol working with the frequency of one mega bit per second. The experimental hardware consists of reaction wheel, processing board, CAN protocol, and LabVIEW monitoring. Modeling assumes the reaction wheel and its inner control circuit as a black box and takes into account the practical considerations. Initially, behavior of the reaction wheel is examined using test signals for velocity and acceleration as inputs. After that, the test signals are replaced by Chirp and PRBS signals and the output results are saved. According the results obtained in the tests, ARMAX and ARX linear dynamic models are assigned to the motor and different orders of these models are compared with each other to reach the appropriate order of the models. Furthermore, a delay is also incorporated in the model and its proper order is determined by the simulations. Finally, to validate the proposed model, the outputs of the model and plant are compared followed by exerting a new test signal. The results indicate a good agreement between the proposed model and the practical behavior.

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In this study, stabilization attitude control of a rigid satellite with on-off thrusters using pulse-width pulse-frequency (PWPF) modulator is investigated in presence of sensor noise. The preferred regions of the PWPF modulator parameters and stabilization control gain are obtained based on the two performance indices of the fuel consumption and the total number of thruster firings. The analyses include tumbling, detumbling, and stabilization block as an internal loop of the satellite pointing mode. The design parameters are reduced by using the quasi-normalized equations of PWPF modulator. Therefore, the preferred regions are extracted based on search method in terms of grouped parameters, regardless of the value of each parameter, separately. In quasi-normalized form, the computational burden is considerably decreased, especially in the statistical analysis in the presence of sensor noise. The parametric study is carried out with/without sensor noise. The parameters are also tuned using multi-objective optimization with genetic algorithm for stabilization mode without sensor noise. In the presence of sensor noise, the behaviors of the parameters are plotted versus the noise power spectral density. In order to better specify the preferred regions, each quasi-normalized design curve is plotted for a specified value of the input noise power spectral density. The parameters of the satellite attitude control system are suggested to be tuned/optimized within the preferred regions of the parameters in the stabilization loop as an internal loop.