Virginia Tech has developed a testbed comprised of two independent spherical air-bearing platforms for formation flying attitude control simulation, the Distributed Spacecraft Attitude Control System Simulator (DSACSS). The DSACSS provides the flexibility to experimentally implement many types of control techniques. Novel individual platform control options include nonlinear compensation of an ...

In this paper we investigate the interaction between an orbiting tethered system and a single spacecraft acting as leader of the tethered formation. This problem arises when a distributed sensor array formed by a chain of tethered data-gathering vehicles is being commanded to reconfigure fi-om a remote location by the formation leader. Another example is a radar-mapping mission where multiple f...

An Autonomous Science Agent is currently flying onboard the Earth Observing One Spacecraft. This software enables the spacecraft to autonomously detect and respond to science events occurring on the Earth. The package includes software systems that perform science data analysis, deliberative planning, and run-time robust execution. Because of the deployment to a remote spacecraft, this Autonomo...

This paper addresses the problem of motion planning for free-flying robots. Full state actuation is considered to allow for large displacements of the spacecraft. Motion planning is formulated as an optimization problem and kinematic as well as dynamic constraints are considered. The chosen optimization criteria are spacecraft actuation and final time. The proposed method allows solutions which...

A DVANCES in networking and distributed computing enable numerous applications for multivehicle systems including space-based observations, future combat systems, smart homes, enhanced surveillance systems, hazardous material handling systems, and reconfigurable sensing systems. In some applications, it is desirable that multiple vehicles maintain a geometric configuration and achieve relative ...