Microspacecraft general cell research

This paper introduces our research that is to conceive and design a micro-platform of spacecraft that we call general cell (GC). The cell is an enabling technology of microspacecraft, and fully adapts to the rapidly developing demands of distributed spacecraft system (DSS). This paper gives detail depictions of characteristics of GC at system level, and a logically hierarchical architecture of DSS is proposed by discussing an improved leader election algorithm briefly. Up to now, a prototype used to demonstrate the cell is preliminarily designed, which comprises information processing unit (IPU) and sensors and actuators units (SAU). IPU, which integrates on-board computer (OBC), attitude control system (ACS), IO subsystem, and telemetry and telecommand subsystem together, is 200 mm times 28 mm times 138 mm, and its dry mass is 640 g. SAU is built with hardware-in-the-loop simulation by dSPACE real-time simulation platform. The two sets of GC have implemented autonomous attitude control and simple formation flying