Application to a Satellite’s Attitude Control Subsystem

Like many other man-made dynamical systems, spacecraft are potentially subjected to unexpected anomalies and failures in subsystems and components during their mission lifetime. Future generations of spacecraft need to show proper reaction to unexpected events such as component/subsystem failures or environmental interactions. Most currently used spacecraft controllers react to different situations according to some, often, hard-coded routines. This is impractical when the spacecraft is facing an unexpected event. On the other hand, the probability of fault occurrence increases with the time needed to accomplish the mission. Hence, the development of technologies that enable the spacecraft to automatically detect, isolate, identify, and eventually respond and recover from (unexpected) faults/failures in its components, subsystems, or mission goals is highly desirable. The main goal of an autonomous operation should be to maintain the spacecraft’s safety and to perform the critical functions in priority.