Formation of Connected Network for Fractionated Spacecraft
Ran Dai, Joshua Maximoff, Mehran Mesbahi · 2012
This paper examines the proximity network establishment problem for a collection of fractionated spacecraft modules initially scattered in space. The objective is to nd trajectory corrections that bring the space modules into a stable orbit that forms a connected network with minimum control e orts. We discuss a number of possible stable spacecraft formations and formulate the original problem as a parameter optimization problem with both connectivity constraints and stable formation constraints at the nal boundary point. Two approaches, exhaustive global search and a relaxed nonlinear programming algorithm, are developed to calculate the solution of the resulting combinatorial optimization problem for networks of varying scales. Simulation results for inducing connected networks for both in-plane and circular spacecraft formations are provided and compared in terms of e ciency, cost, and complexity.