Ground-based experimental study on deployment and retrieval control of tethered satellite

An innovative ground-based experiment design based on the principle of dynamic similarity is presented for simulating the in-plane motions of a Tethered Satellite System (TSS) on a circular orbit. The experiment features in using a combination of air-bearing facilities and on-board thrusts to achieve the simulation of the gravity gradient field and the Coriolis forces experienced by the TSS. The online measurement and control platforms for the experiment have been established by exploiting the technologies of computer vision and wireless local network. The ideas of online optimization and receding horizon control are introduced to the design feedback controller for the TSS. Even though the proposed feedback law is not analytically explicit, it is easy to determine it via a rapid re-computation of the open-loop optimal trajectory online by using the Legendre pseudo-spectral and nonlinear programming methods. Finally, representative experiments are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the experimental system and the performance of the proposed control scheme.