Hybrid Realtime Simulation of the Space Docking Process

Yan Hao Han Junwei Tong Zhizhong Li Hongren

Mechatronic Engineering school, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Yanho799@163.com

Abstract
In order to test the space docking mechanism on the
ground, the docking process of two spacecrafts must be
simulated. The hybrid simulation (hardware-in-loop
simulation) is a preferred method for its great
applicability to different spacecrafts. Therefore, a
space docking hybrid simulation (SDHS) prototype
system is established. In this system actual spacecrafts
are replaced by virtual ones and the docking dynamics
model is built according to moment of momentum
equations of the spacecrafts. Then a distributed
realtime computer system is used for calculating the
relative motion of the spacecrafts and driving a
Stewart platform to implement this motion. Adopting
an imitated docking mechanism in the experiment, the
whole process of space docking is simulated
successfully. On the basis of this system, a SDHS
system using for testing actual docking mechanisms
can be constructed in the future.
1. Introduction
To ensure the accomplishment of spacecrafts’
docking, the docking mechanism must work reliably in
the docking process. So it is necessary to simulate
docking processes on the ground to verify the docking
mechanism’s validity. Because of the complexity of
the docking mechanism, modeling its action will be
very difficult, so docking simulations can’t depend on
full digital methods and actual docking mechanisms
should be included in simulation systems. Thus the
hybrid simulation with the hardware in the simulation
loop becomes a considerable solution. At present space
docking hybrid simulation (SDHS) systems have been
investigated in USA and Russia [1]. Similar
experiment systems used for researching man-made
satellites were built in Japan [2] and Canada [3].
For the purpose of developing a SDHS system
which can test the actual docking mechanism, a
prototype system is built in this paper, showed in Fig.1.
Figure 1. SDHS prototype system including
imitated docking components
This system has an imitated probe/cone type docking
mechanism. Although this docking mechanism is much
simpler and cheaper than an actual one, it has the same
main functions, such as capturing and cushioning in
the docking process. Besides the docking mechanism,
the prototype system includes a parallel manipulator
(Stewart platform), a six-axis force/torque sensor and a
distributed realtime system which consists of a
dynamics calculation unit (DCU), a servo control unit
(SCU) and a monitor unit (MU). Its main theory is
illustrated in Fig.2. The mutual force and torque of
imitated docking components are measured by the
force/torque sensor, and the relative motion of two
spacecrafts is calculated according to the docking
dynamics model in the DCU. Then this relative motion
is implemented by the Stewart platform driven by the
SCU. All status messages are monitored in the MU.
This paper is organized as follows. The constructing
method of the SDHS system is detailedly described in
Section 2. The docking dynamics model is presented in
Section 3. In Section 4, the location (position and
orientation) of the Stewart platform is calculated by
vector transforming. The docking process of
spacecrafts is simulated using this system in Section 5,
and Section 6 contains conclusions.

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 Force/Torque Force& The docking simulator includes the Stewart
sensor platform, the imitated docking mechanism and the
Torque
DCU Status force/torque sensor. It will realize the docking process
message and sense the force and torque simultaneously.
Relative In the docking simulation, the DCU demands
motion MU powerful computing capability and must work
Drive separately. Then a distributed simulation system is
signals Status
required. In order to solve the synchronization problem
SCU message
of the distributed system [4], RT-LAB, a distributed
Distributed realtime system realtime simulation developing tool, is adopted in the
Figure 2. Theory of the SDHS system prototype system. The DCU and the SCU can
communicate with each other based on IEEE-1394
2. SDHS system’s construction standards, and the simulation with a step size of 1ms is
performed.
The SDHS prototype system presented in this paper
consists of the DCU, the SCU, the docking simulator 3. Docking Dynamics model
and the MU. Since the MU is not directly involved in
the simulation, the other three parts are detailedly Compared with spacecrafts, the mass of the docking
described, shown in Fig.3. mechanism is very small, so its influence on the
Dynamics calculation unit (DCU) simulation is ignored. Thus the problem is reduced to
F1,M1,F2,M2 R21,Φ
an impact process of rigid bodies in the space, shown
F,M
in Fig.4.
Force&torque Relative Platform’s F2
motion location I
of spacecrafts F1
calculating calculating calculating
O1 r1 O3 r2
O2
k1 k2
q
r01 r02
d Active r03 Passive
Platform’s spacecraft spacecraft
Servo
inverse
controller OS
solution
Figure 4. Docking dynamics model
In the figure O1 denotes the active spacecraft’s
Docking simulator (DS) Serve control unit (SCU)
centroid and O2 denotes the passive one’s. O3 is the
Figure 3. SDHS system’s structure total centroid of rigid bodies and the origin of the
As the core of this SDHS system, the DCU can inertial frame is indicated by OS. Assuming that two
calculate the relative motion of two virtual spacecrafts spacecrafts come into contact at the point I, their
and get the location signals of the Stewart platform. moment of momentum equations are expressed as
Firstly the DCU works out force vectors F1 and F2 as follows:
well as torque vectors M1 and M2 at two spacecrafts’ dL1 dL 2
= r1 × F1 ; = r2 × F2 , (1)
centroids according to the cushioning force F and the dt dt
cushioning torque M measured by the force/torque where L1 is the active spacecraft’s moment of
sensor. Secondly the docking dynamics model is built momentum at O1, L2 is the passive one’s at O2 . F1 and
to calculate the relative motion of two spacecrafts. The F2 are forces acting on two spacecrafts. Their moments
relative position vector R21 of two spacecrafts’ of momentum at O3 are
centroids and the relative orientation column matrix Φ L 13 = L1 + m1k 1 × k 1 ; L 23 = L 2 + m2k 2 × k 2 , (2)
are obtained. Finally the location q of the Stewart where m1 and m2 are masses of two spacecrafts. If R21
platform is acquired through vector transforming. indicates O2’s position vector relative to O1, k1 and k2 in
The SCU’s task is driving the Stewart platform. Fig.4 satisfy
Using the inverse kinematics model that is easy to get,
the input vector d consisting of 6 hydraulic actuators’
command signals can be obtained. The servo controller
m2 m1
is in charge of controlling actuators effectively and k1 = − R 21 ; k 2 = R 21 . (3)
driving the platform to simulate the relative motion. m1 + m 2 m1 + m 2

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 However, the moment of momentum equation of the The Stewart platform is in charge of realizing the
rigid bodies system at O3 can be expressed as relative motion and its location is calculated by vector
d (L13 + L 23 ) transforming, illustrated in Fig.5.
=0. (4)
dt
Substituting eq. (3) into eq. (2) and then substituting eq.
(1), (2) into eq. (4), the equation O1
mm  = 0 Active spacecraft
r1 × F1 + r2 × F2 + 1 2 R 21 × R 21 (5)
m1 + m 2
is obtained. Considering
R21
r1 − r2 = R 21 (6)
P
and
F2 = −F1 , (7) Hydraulic actuator
O2
substituting eq. (6), (7) into eq. (5) yields
m1m2 Passive spacecraft
R 21 × F1 +  = 0 .
R 21 × R (8)
21
m1 + m2 Og yg

As O1 and O2’s accelerations are parallel with F1, we xg

can get Figure 5. Relation between spacecrafts and
the Stewart platform
 = − m1 + m 2 F ,
R (9) The spacecrafts and the platform are drawn together
21 1
m1 m 2
in Fig.5, and the dashed lines show that the spacecrafts
where R 
21 is the passive spacecraft’s acceleration are virtual. The active spacecraft is attached to the
vector relative to the active one. Then one may acquire static coordinate frame whose origin is Og. A body
the vector R21 by integrating. coordinate frame attached to the passive spacecraft is
Two spacecrafts’ Euler equations are respectively built and its origin is O2. O1 and O2 are two
J1 ⋅ ω  1 + ω1 × (J 1 ⋅ ω1 ) = M 1 ; (10) spacecrafts’ centroids. The controlled point P of the
J 2 ⋅ ω 2 + ω 2 × (J 2 ⋅ ω 2 ) = M 2 ,
 (11) platform is located at the center of the moveable plate’s
top surface, so the vector OgP can determine the
where J1 and J2 are spacecrafts’ inertia tensors. ω1 and
platform’s position. According to Fig.5 OgP is
ω2 are angular velocity vectors and can be calculated
expressed as:
according to eq. (10) and (11). Thus the passive
O g P = A ⋅ (O 2 P) − O1O g + R 21 , (14)
spacecraft’s angular velocity vector relative to the
active one is where O2P is P’s position vector relative to O2 in the
ω 21 = ω 2 − ω 1 . (12) body coordinate frame. A is a transform matrix from
the body frame to the static frame and it is determined
With the y, z and x Cardan angle sequence, the
by current Φ that has been gotten in Section 3.
corresponding Cardan angles β, γ and α satisfy [5]
Moreover, O1Og and O2P are constant vectors, so OgP
 β   ω 21 x  can be worked out in the simulation.
   
 γ  = U  ω 21 y 
 
(13) Then the location column matrix q = [O g P ′ Φ ′]′
 
α   ω 21 z 

which is essential for controlling the Stewart platform
where is acquired and sent to the SCU in order to realize the
0 cα / c γ − s α / cγ  docking motion.
 
U = 0 sα cα .
1 5. Docking process simulating using the
 − tγ c α t γ s α 
prototype system
ω21x, ω21y andω21z denote ω21’s coordinates in O2
frame. Thus the relative orientation column matrix Constructing the prototype system according to
′
Φ = [α β γ ] can be obtained through integrating. Fig.3 and supposing that the active spacecraft weights
After getting R21 and Φ, the relative motion of two 13 tons and the passive 1.3 tons, the whole docking
spacecrafts has been described completely. process composed of touching, capturing and
cushioning-aligning phases is simulated using the
prototype.
4. Stewart platform’s location calculation Firstly the end of the docking probe mounted on the
Stewart platform touches the docking cone under

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 certain conditions, referred as docking initial In fact the DCU and the Docking simulator (Fig.3)
conditions, using a type of trajectory planning method. in the SDHS system compose an external loop outside
At this moment, the DCU is triggered and begins to the servo control loop of the Stewart platform, and thus
control the platform until the docking process is over, it is well worth investigating the stability of this
indicated in Fig.6. simulation system. So a digital model of the SDHS
system is established by Simulink. The linear analysis
of this model indicates that the system can acquire
Force&Torque enough stability when the bandwidth of the platform is
Drive 3 times higher than the natural frequency of the
Start 0
signals docking vibration.
simulation Actuator
feedback 400 -0.25

Trajectory 200

planning unit Location -0.3

Force(N)

Dx(m)
0
Docking simulator -0.35
-200
test
planning end simulation -0.4 test
-400

SDU simulation
-600 -0.45
74 76 78 80 82 74 76 78 80 82
Time(s) Time(s)

DCU (a) Cushioning force (b) Relative displacement

Location along the xg-axis along xg-axis
0.02
0.01

Figure 6. Switching between the trajectory

0.005
planning module and the DCU 0.01 test
Ry(rad)

simulation
The initial conditions include offsets of the touching

Dy(m)
0

point, two spacecrafts’ relative orientation and their 0

test
approaching velocity. In the experiment, the offsets in -0.005
simulation
the xg and yg direction are both 0.028m, and the -0.01
-0.01
75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82
relative orientation angles about xg-axis and yg-axis are
75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82
Time(s) Time(s)
0.01rad and -0.01rad, respectively. Two spacecrafts (c) Relative orientation angle (d) Relative displacement
approach at a speed of 0.1m/s in the xg direction. about yg-axis along yg -axis
With the given parameters and docking initial Figure 7. Test curves of docking simulating
conditions, the docking experiment is carried out and
the result is drawn in Fig.7. Because it is difficult to 6. Conclusions
model the touching and capturing process, only the
cushioning-aligning phase of two spacecrafts’ docking 1) The prototype system presented above is able to
procedure is simulated with full digital methods to simulate the whole process of space docking
verify the SDHS system’s validity, and the simulating effectively. The method of constructing the SDHS
tool is Simulink. system proves feasible. Based on this prototype system,
Figure 7 shows that the vibrating amplitude of two a complete SDHS system for testing actual docking
spacecrafts for each DOF converges gradually after mechanisms can be established by enhancing its
capturing, and the relative motion and the mutual force simulation performance and extending its functions
are reproduced realistically. Therefore the method of such as building a vacuum environment.
constructing the SDHS system is feasible and the 2) It is showed by experiment that the dynamics
docking dynamics model built in Sec.3 is effective. calculation unit (DCU) in the prototype system can
This model can be directly applied to an actual SDHS exactly compute the relative motion of two spacecrafts
system. Because of the larger amplitude, the in the docking process, so it can be directly applied in
displacement and the force in the xg direction are very the actual system.
consistent with the simulation. However, the 3) In order to acquire good stability, generally the
amplitudes for other DOFs are much smaller, so the bandwidth of the Stewart platform is required to be at
relative errors are slightly larger for the reason of least three times higher than the natural frequency of
machining and assembly errors’ influence. The the docking vibration. This stability condition should
dentations of the force curve in Fig.7(a) display the be considered when the platform is designed.
cushioning force’s rapid fluctuations when the
capturing lock is locked.

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 Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the Institute of Electro-
hydraulic Servo Simulation & Test system (IEST). The
trajectory planning method of the Stewart platform is
provided by the 805 Research Institute of Shanghai
Space Administration.
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[3] C. Lange and E. Martin, “Towards Docking Emulation
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[4] David M. Lane, G. Falconer and G. Randall,
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[5] Hong Jiazhen, Calculational Dynamics of Multibody
System, Higher Education Press, China, 1999.

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