Design and Development of Hardware-in-Loop Simulation of Spacecraft Attitude Control System Based on Wireless Ad Hoc Networking

Spacecraft attitude control system simulator is a laboratory system designed for developing and testing attitude control algorithm in a low-risk, low-cost environment. In this paper, the design and development of the hardware-in-loop simulation of spacecraft attitude control system is described, including hardware and software. The distinguished feature of the simulation system different from other simulators is that on-board data handling is based on wireless ad hoc network, which breaks through the traditional conception. Based on the established simulator, the paper presents some experimental results of spacecraft attitude control. The test results show that reliability and validity of the simulator, which provides a new way and a good support environment for the ground test of spacecrafts attitude control approaches.