Turning Robots into Thrusters – How Can Software Upgrades Transform Our ISAM Facility?
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Follow us on a journey of transforming a simple robotics solution into a complete spaceflight navigation simulation.
By using ROS, we can use the full range of robot movement to represent spacecraft movement.
Most ISAM facilities around the world use some form of robotics as an abstract representation of how a spacecraft moves through space. In this case, the robot acts as the invisible force on the spacecraft – when the robot carrying the spacecraft moves, this is mimicking a thruster pushing the spacecraft in that direction.
Spacecraft can do a variety of manoeuvres, changing the direction they face, accelerating, decelerating, and rotating. This is managed by a variety of systems on the craft called the Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS), which uses a complex combination of thrusters, gyroscopes, and actuators. To accommodate this complex behaviour, many robotics systems seeking to emulate spacecraft movement use a simple point-to-point trajectory; rather than worry about the commands sent by the AOCS, they translate these into a simple “the spacecraft begins at this point and moves to this point”.
ROS and its visualisation app RVIZ lets users create spacecraft trajectories in an intuitive manner.
To fully emulate the abilities of an AOCS system, a facility needs a more sophisticated software solution than a point-to-point trajectory – and that’s exactly what the team in our ISAM Robotics Yard[https://sa.catapult.org.uk/facilities/iosm/] have done. By upgrading the software package to a system called ROS (a robotics operating system that will be familiar to any roboticists reading) our facility is now able to take a variety of inputs from a virtual AOCS as velocity and force commands. For example, rather than simplifying a manoeuvre to “the craft moves from x to y”, our system can now take commands such as “apply a 2m/s velocity towards the target”, just as if the command had come from an AOCS.
Importantly, this means that our facility can now be used to test guidance, navigation and control (GNC) – the system that tells the AOCS what direction the spacecraft is facing. If you are looking for a highly accurate environment to test your GNC system, get in touch now – facilities@sa.catapult.org.uk.
Related blogs:
Collision Without Failure: Simulating What Happens When Spacecraft “Bump”
Find out how our ISAM Facility upgrades are allowing us to see what happens when spacecraft collide at low speed. Read more >>
The Future of ISAM in the UK: Upgrading and Innovating in Westcott
Reflecting on the last 12 months in our ISAM Facility. Read more >>
