Abstract
We present a biologically inspired controller for creating formations in satellite swarms. This controller can place satellites in formation where there is equal spacing between individuals, or place them all in the same location. The controller is fully decentralized without any human control. It only relies on simple satellite capabilities such as light sensing, neighbor communication, and attitude control, enabling it to run on the simplest of satellites. We present the controller and demonstrate its operation in a realistic simulation environment.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Banazadeh, P.: Space Infrastructure 2.0! Meet Capella Space, May 2017
Clohessy, W.H.: Terminal guidance system for satellite rendezvous. J. Aerosp. Sci. 27(9), 653–658 (1960)
Degesys, J., Rose, I., Patel, A., Nagpal, R.: DESYNC: self-organizing desynchronization and TDMA on wireless sensor networks. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, pp. 11–20. ACM (2007)
Foster, C., Hallam, H., Mason, J.: Orbit Determination and Differential-drag Control of Planet Labs Cubesat Constellations, Sep 2015. arXiv:1509.03270 [astro-ph, physics:physics]
Foster, C., Mason, J., Vittaldev, V., Leung, L., Beukelaers, V., Stepan, L., Zimmerman, R.: Constellation phasing with differential drag on planet labs satellites. J. Spacecr. Rockets 55(2), 473–483 (2018)
Henry, C.: Iridium teams up with LEO Internet of Things startup Magnitude Space, Sep 2017. http://spacenews.com/iridium-teams-up-with-internet-of-things-startup-magnitude-space/
Henry, C.: OneWeb asks FCC to authorize 1,200 more satellites, Mar 2018. http://spacenews.com/oneweb-asks-fcc-to-authorize-1200-more-satellites/
Manchester, Z., Peck, M., Filo, A.: Kicksat: A crowd-funded mission to demonstrate the world’s smallest spacecraft. In: AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, Logan, UT, pubs-conference (2013)
Meyer, D.: Here’s What You Need to Know About SpaceX’s Satellite Broadband Plans, Feb 2018. http://fortune.com/2018/02/22/spacex-starlink-satellite-broadband/
Mirollo, R.E., Strogatz, S.H.: Synchronization of pulse-coupled biological oscillators. SIAM J. Appl. Math. 50(6), 1645–1662 (1990)
Swartwout, M.: The first one hundred cubesats: a statistical look. J. Small Satell. 2(2), 213–233 (2013)
Vance, A.: The Tiny Satellites Ushering in the New Space Revolution. http://Bloomberg.com/, Jun 2017
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Rubenstein, M., Manchester, Z. (2019). Bio-inspired Position Control of Satellite Constellations. In: Correll, N., Schwager, M., Otte, M. (eds) Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05816-6_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05816-6_31
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-05815-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05816-6
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)