Intelligent spacecraft formation management and path planning
Y. Pennecot, Ella M. Atkins, Robert D. Sanner · 2002
Spacecraft formation flight may increase data coverage area and accuracy for a myriad of space-based experiments. To prevent ground operations support from scaling with number of satellites, we propose a control architecture that describes a formation as a virtual body, such that the operator controls the group as if it were a single entity. We overview the components of our control architecture from problem specification to onboard satellite control and describe a hybrid automata-based model for switching between drift, impulse (Av and active control modes. We focus on the waypoint planning component responsible for decomposing the specified formation geometry and mission goals into a set of synchronized satellite waypoint sequences. We present a set of illustrative Earth-orbiting formation examples and describe associated waypoint plans that meet observation goals while minimizing fuel consumption.