A Test-Bed for Attitude Determination and Control System of Nanosatellite

In order to ensure a reliable verification of attitude and control systems for nanosatellites, a test platform is developed. It is used to improve and implement the test scenarios of the sensors, actuators, and algorithms. Magnetometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope are used as attitude sensors to estimate the state of the satellite. As the primary attitude control actuator, three reaction wheels are used in each axis. The test setup is composed of the main octagonal table, balancing blocks, adapters for installation of equipment, adapters including anodized coating for corrosion protection. In order to manage balancing, the coarse balance blocks are placed in four corners and the precise balancing blocks are placed on each axis. The platform has a wireless monitoring system for online analysis and a power distribution unit. A computer is used to determine attitude determination and control tasks in a distributed control mechanism. Several scenarios are tested and analyzed in the traditional and nontraditional Kalman-type filters for attitude estimation of the satellite and magnetometer calibration purposes.