Design And Development Of Power And Attitude Control Subsystems For RYESAT

Michael William Richard. Alger, Ryerson University

Date of Award

2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MSc)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Krishna Kumar

Abstract

This thesis describes the design and development of Ryerson University's first CubeSat (RyeSat) with a focus on power and attitude control subsystems. This satellite is intended to become the initial of a series of CubeSats built by Ryerson University to perform research in spacecraft control algorithms and actuators. RyeSat is built around a standard interface, which specifies both a data-bus and a switchable power supply system for non critical systems. To facilitate the development of this satellite a prototype power subsystem was created, programmed and tested. In addition to developing the system's architecture and power subsystem; analysis was preformed to size both reaction wheels and magnetic torquers. This analysis showed that a commercially available motor could be adapted to fulfill the attitude control requirements of a CubeSat and also showed that miniature magnetic torque rods would be more efficient that magnetic torque coils typically used on CubeSats. Finally, control laws for these actuators were designed and an adaptive nonlinear sliding mode controller for reaction wheels was applied to control the 3-axis attitude motion of RyeSat.