Date of Award

3-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Robert Leishman, PhD

Abstract

The lack of satellite servicing capabilities significantly impacts the development and operation of current orbital assets. With autonomous solutions under consideration for servicing, the purpose of this research is to build and validate a low-cost hardware platform to expedite the development of autonomous satellite proximity operations. This research aims to bridge the gap between simulation and existing higher fidelity hardware testing with an affordable alternative. An omnidirectional variant of the commercially available TurtleBot3 mobile robot is presented as a 3-DOF testbed that demonstrates a satellite servicing inspection scenario. Reference trajectories for the scenario are generated via optimal control using the commercial solver GPOPS-11, and results from simulation and hardware demonstration are presented. Recommendations are then given for using the platform as a rapid method for experimentally verifying various satellite control algorithms.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-ENG-MS-21-M-047

DTIC Accession Number

AD1132515

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