Spacecraft Control

Spacecraft Control

Special Master of Aerospace Engineering

Credits

6

Period

March 3th - June 14th, 2025

Time and place

Wednesdays, 6:00pm -  8:00pm, Lecture room 2

Fridays, 5:00pm -  8:00pm, Lecture room 2

Lecture room 2 is at the School of Aerospace Engineering, via Salaria 851

Office hours

Contact me to fix an appointment

e-mail: fabio.celani@uniroma1.it

ph.: +39 06 4991 9755

Learning objectives

Main aim of this course is to introduce students to basic methods to control the attitude of a spacecraft. Basic tools for analysis and design of control systems will be introduced and applied to spacecraft attitude control.  Students will be introduced to a software application that supports analysis and design by those tools.

Requirements

It is required that students know calculus and mechanics, as taught in undergraduate introductory courses.

Competences and learning outcomes

Students will learn mathematical methods useful for analyzing and designing basic attitude control systems for spacecraft. They will also learn to use a software application supporting analysis and design of spacecraft attitude control systems.

Contents (tentative)

Introduction to spacecraft attitude regulation. Spacecraft mathematical model. Attitude regulation neglecting environmental torques. Proportional attitude regulation. Laplace transfrom. Proportional-Derivative (PD) regulation. Asymptotic stability. Attitude regulation with environmental torques. Transfer function. Block diagrams. Feedback control system. Steady-state response to a constant input. Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) attitude regulation. Routh's stability criterion. Validations via numerical simulations in Matlab and Simulink

Evaluation of the student’s training

Students will be evaluated trough an individual exam.

Information on exam

Bibliography

The textbook is available for consultation at Sapienza library system (see Sapienza library catalog).

Sapienza students can install Matlab and its toolboxes following the instructions indicated in this page (only in Italian).