Slider: On the Design and Modeling of a 2D Floating Satellite Platform
This work provides a practical test bed for satellite motion simulation, primarily benefiting researchers in robotics and aerospace engineering, but it is incremental as it builds on existing emulation platform concepts.
The authors tackled the problem of emulating satellite motion in space by designing and modeling a 2D floating robotic platform that operates frictionlessly on a hyper-smooth surface, with the result being a fully developed system validated through simulations and open-sourced for community use.
In this article, a floating robotic emulation platform for a virtual demonstration of satellite motion in space is presented. The robotic platform design is characterized by its friction-less, levitating, yet planar motion over a hyper-smooth surface. The robotic platform, integrated with sensor and actuator units, is fully designed and manufactured from the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Team at Luleå University of Technology. A detailed design description along with the mathematical modeling describing the platform's dynamic motion is formulated. Finally, the proposed design is validated in extensive simulation studies, while the overall test bed experimental setup, as well as the vehicle hardware and software architectures, are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the entire design, including 3D printing CAD model and different testbed elements, is provided in an open-source repository and a test campaign is used to showcase its capabilities and illustrate its operations.