Design and Implementation of a Balance System for the CubeSat Attitude Determination and Control Tabletop Simulator

To test the Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem of a satellite, it is necessary to have an attitude dynamics simulator, and the simulator must be in a balance condition. Disturbances on the balance system in the simulation include deviations caused by the difference between the center of mass and rotation, as well as the movement of two horizontal actuators. The movement of two horizontal actuators is a factor for rotational and vortex motion. In the simulation of experimental models, PID control coefficients are also used to control three axes. The balance system actuators include moving masses and reaction wheel that are installed around the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively. To validate the results, a hardware sample has been developed for laboratory tests. Using the sampling time, models and experimental coefficients, the hardware reaches the accuracy of 0.2 and 0.5 degrees in 25 seconds, respectively, which indicates a suitable accuracy for balancing the simulator of the CubeSat attitude.