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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/C517458/1
Title: Equipment For Satellite Formation Flying Control System Verification
Principal Investigator: Veres, Professor SM
Other Investigators:
Gabriel, Professor SB
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
AeroAstro Airbus Operations Limited
Department: Faculty of Engineering & the Environment
Organisation: University of Southampton
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 June 2005 Ends: 31 May 2006 Value (£): 80,214
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Control Engineering
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The project proposes to built a facility that allows testing of digital realtime control hardware and software as implemented on board of spacecraft and allows testing the reliability of the embedded control system as a whole including all actuators and sensors.Digital communications systems (inter-satellite and Earth link) are also to be built to test the whole autonomous control system including both communications and control systems.The plan is to build an air-bearing based testing facility that can approximate the dynamics of two satellites in space. Each satellite will have 5 degrees of freedom, in x-y translational motion and in z-v-w rotational motion with limited angles. This is going to be achieved via air-bearing pads over a glass table and extended semi-spheres, to accommodate rotational motion (see Figures 1-2 in the case for proposal). Each spacecraft will have a range of control devices on board, such as thrusters, a possibility is to use fan jets instead of ion thrusters, solid-state gyros, reaction wheels, a digital computer and associated A/D and D/A converters, wireless communications, differential GPS, etc.
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Further Information:  
Organisation Website: http://www.soton.ac.uk