Test Results: Supreeth Raghuprakash, Hai Le Dang, Steven Engelen, Bert Monna

Performance evaluation of the miniature attitude control system
iADCS
Supreeth Raghuprakash (1) , Hai Le Dang (1) , Steven Engelen (2) , Bert Monna (2)
(1) Berlin Space Technologies GmbH, Max-Planck-Str. 3, 12489 Berlin, Germany, phone: +49609812420
(2) Hyperion Technologies, Motorenweg 5h, 2623 CR Delft, The Netherlands
Introduction Test Results

The iADCS is an integrated attitude Below some results of component and functional test are presented.
determination and control system. The iADCS-
100 currently under development by Berlin Star tracker ST200 test
Space Technologies and Hyperion Technologies
is such an integrated autonomous attitude
control system for Cubesats. The reference
mission for iADCS is the Finnish Aalto-1 mission.
Aalto-1 is a 3U Cubesat scheduled to be
launched in mid-2015.
The iADCS-100 is currently undergoing a number

of tests to verify it’s key performance
parameters.
Figure 1: iADCS-100 QM
Reaction wheel vacuum run test
iADCS System Design
The iADCS-100 as one of world’s smallest attitude control comes with a full set of sensors and
actuators and sophisticated ADCS algorithms in a 95x90x32mm, 350g package. Beyond the
more standard modes such as sun-pointing and b-dot de-tumbling it equips its host spacecraft Step response and active
with a set of autonomous attitude control modes such as nadir pointing and target pointing breaking of reaction wheel
(via long./lat.) that were before only available for larger spacecraft.
The block diagram seen in Figure 2 illustrates the main system design. Additional sensors such
as fine sun sensors or GPS can be installed via an external I²C bus.
High precision
3-Axis 3-Axis
3-Axis
Magnetometer Accelerometer
MEMS Gyro
Rod 1
SPI
Magnetorquer
Driver
Spacecraft
USB
Rod 2
ST200
Magnetorquer RS485 Test using Helmholtz cage and air-bearing
USART
Driver RS422
Rod 3 Torque generating using

Magnetorquer MTQ within homogenous
I2C UART USB
Driver
magnetic field
I2C
MCU RS485
RW 1 (iACDS) RS422
5V
RW 2 DCDC
3-Axis
MEMS Gyro 5V
External
(switched)
Sensors
RW 3
Driver
Isolator
Diff. Data Power Data Control
Figure 2: iADCS-100 Block Diagram
Test and Verification B-dot Control
The tests include tests on component level in a representative environment (e.g. long-time
run tests of the wheels in vacuum, star tracker performance tests, TVAC, radiation and
vibration tests) as well as end to end system performance testing, in order to evaluate the TVAC and Vibration Test
system’s pointing capabilities. The effective performance of the iADCS has been exceptional Sine Vibration Random Vibration
on each of these tests. Frequency [Hz] Qualification Level Frequency [Hz] Qualification ASD Level [g²/Hz)
5 – 11,8 30mm peak-peak 20 0.026
 Star tracker performance test 11,8 - 100 8,4g 20-50 +6 dB/oct
 Calibration of MEMS sensors (Gyro, Accelerometer, Magnetometer) 50-800 0.16
 Actuator tests: long-time run test of reaction wheels, functional test of MTQs 800-2000 -6dB/oct
2000 0.026
Overall: 14.1grms
 Vibration test: Using an electrodynamic shaker to verify the capability to withstand the
severe loads that will act upon the device during launch. Test levels are specified by
customer (30mm peak-peak for 5-11.8 Hz - Sine Vibrations, achieving 8.4g).
 TVAC tests: Simulation of space environment such as vacuum condition combined with
temperature variation. Functional tests of iADCS are done during several temperature
cycles.
 Helmholtz- cage test: Using a helmholtz cage to simulate the earth or constant
magnetic field different high-level functional tests with MTQs are performed.
 Air bearing test: Archievment of a “friction free” condition for single axis control test. In
combination with Helmholtz cage other tests like b-dot-detumbling are possible.
Conclusion And Outlook

The iADCS-100 is in its last phase before being launched by the reference customer. A large
majority of tests to verify the functionality have been performed and the product is now
iADCS on air-bearing
market ready. In the recent years since BST and Hyperion started the development of iADCS-
100, the average Cubesat mission has physically grown, moving the sweet spot from 3U
missions to 6U and 12U. To adapt to this demand upgraded versions of iADCS will be
homogeneous magnetic field created by 3 compliant with larger operational Nano satellites in the 10-20kg class.
pairs of helmholtz coils
Figure 3:B-dot-detumbling test setup

Test Results: Supreeth Raghuprakash, Hai Le Dang, Steven Engelen, Bert Monna

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Performance evaluation of the miniature attitude control system

Introduction Test Results

The iADCS-100 is currently undergoing a number

Rod 3 Torque generating using

Diff. Data Power Data Control

Figure 2: iADCS-100 Block Diagram

Test and Verification B-dot Control

Conclusion And Outlook

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