Attitude and Relative position Measurement Assembly and GNC Computer Assembly on board the Columbus Free Flying Laboratory
Abstract
The design and operation of the Attitude and Rendezvous Measurement Assembly (ARMA) and the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) Computer Assembly (GCA) for the ESA Columbus Free-Flying Laboratory spacecraft are briefly reviewed. ARMA is designed to provide attitude estimates with accuracy 0.2 deg during microgravity operations and during transfer and rendezvous. The ARMA hardware includes a coarse sun sensor, an optical reference assembly, and an inertial reference assembly; the ARMA software package performs software, hardware, and parameters management; attitude determination; rendezvous measurement; and fault detection, identification, and reconfiguration (FDIR). The GCA comprises three identical fail-stop 80386-based microcomputers with analog I/O and interfaces to the real-time bus and data-management system. This GCA design provides reliable computations for the FDIR subsystem.
- Publication:
-
AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference
- Pub Date:
- 1990
- Bibcode:
- 1990gnc..conf..686V
- Keywords:
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- Airborne/Spaceborne Computers;
- Columbus Space Station;
- Microcomputers;
- Orbital Rendezvous;
- Satellite Attitude Control;
- Spacecraft Guidance;
- Fault Tolerance;
- Free Flight;
- Real Time Operation;
- Weightlessness;
- Spacecraft Instrumentation