Abstract
This chapter gives an overview of the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) of spacecraft, focusing on small satellites. The ADCS is an important subsystem to insure satellite orientation stability and accuracy of pointing various payloads at specific targets. The introductory section will give an overview of the active ADCS feedback loop and lists some requirements and typical control methods utilized. The next section presents some background theory in attitude dynamics, kinematics, and the significant external disturbance torques in low earth orbit (LEO). Then some techniques used for angular rate and attitude determination are presented, followed by the control laws for magnetic detumbling and reaction wheel attitude control. A complete section is dedicated to a practical example of the calculations to determine the pointing accuracy and stability of a high-resolution (Hi-Res) imaging payload on a minisatellite. Finally the chapter concludes with examples and specifications of typical ADCS sensor and actuator hardware that are commercially available.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adcole Maryland, Online web site: https://www.adcolemai.com/
Bartington, Online web site: https://www.bartington.com/mag-13/
X. Chen, W.H. Steyn, Y. Hashida, Proceedings of the AIAA GNC Conference on Ground-Target Tracking Control of Earth-Pointing Satellites, AIAA-2000-4547, 14–17 Aug 2000, Denver Colorado, pp. 1–11
J.L. Crassidis, K.-L. Lai, R.R. Harman, Real-time attitude-independent three-Axis magnetometer calibration. AIAA J. Guid. Control Dyn. 28(1), 115–120 (2005)
CubeSpace, Online web site: https://cubespace.co.za/
Hyperion, Online web site: https://hyperiontechnologies.nl/
G.H. Janse van Vuuren, The Design and Simulation Analysis of an Attitude Determination and Control System for Small Earth Observation Satellites, MEng Thesis, University of Stellenbosch, March 2015
E.J. Lefferts, F.L. Markley, M.D. Shuster, Kalman filtering for spacecraft attitude estimation. AIAA J. Guid. Control Dyn. 5(5), 417–429 (1982)
NewSpace, Online web site: http://www.newspacesystems.com/
Northrop Grumman, Online web site: https://northropgrumman.litef.com/
Sensonor, Online web site: https://www.sensonor.com/
M.D. Shuster, S.D. Oh, Three-Axis attitude determination from vector observations. AIAA J. Guid. Control Dyn. 4(1), 70–77 (1981)
Sodern, Online web site: http://www.sodern.com/
Solar MEMS, Online web site: http://www.solar-mems.com/
W.H. Steyn, A Multi-Mode Attitude Determination and Control System for Small Satellites, PhD Dissertation, University of Stellenbosch, Dec. 1995
W.H. Steyn, Y. Hashida, In-Orbit Attitude Performance of the 3-Axis Stabilised SNAP-1 Nano-satellite, 15th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, Proceedings SSC01-V-1, Utah State University, Logan Utah, Aug 2001
W.H. Steyn, V. Lappas, Cubesat solar sail 3-axis stabilization using panel translation and magnetic torquing. Aerosp. Sci. Technol. 15, 476–485 (2011)
A.C. Stickler, K.T. Alfriend, An elementary magnetic attitude control system, in AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flights Conference, Anaheim California, Aug 1974
W.T. Thomson, Spin stabilisation of attitude against gravity torque. J. Astronaut. Sci. 9(1), 31–33 (1962)
Vectronic, Online web site: https://vectronic-aerospace.com/
B. Wie, H. Weiss, A. Arapostathis, Quaternion feedback regulator for spacecraft Eigenaxis rotations. AIAA J. Guid. Control Dyn. 12(3), 375–380 (1989)
X. Xia, G. Sun, K. Zhang, S. Wu, T. Wang, L. Xia, S. Liu, NanoSats/CubeSats ADCS Survey, 29th CCDC Chinese Control and Decision Conference, Proceedings CCDC, Chongqing, China, 28–30 May 2017, pp. 5151–5158
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Steyn, W.H. (2020). Stability, Pointing, and Orientation. In: Pelton, J. (eds) Handbook of Small Satellites. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20707-6_8-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20707-6_8-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20707-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20707-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering