Design and Testing of an Autonomous Multi-Agent Based Spacecraft Controller

Grey, S. and Radice, G. (2010) Design and Testing of an Autonomous Multi-Agent Based Spacecraft Controller. In: 61st International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2010), Prague, Czech Republic, 27 Sep - 1 Oct 2010, pp. 4980-4990. ISBN 9781617823688

Abstract

In this paper a testing suite for the multi-agent component of a spacecraft control system is presented. The test suite is designed to test the spacecraft behaviour given a set of control laws and a decision making architecture. The approach couples multiple models to the multi agent system (MAS). One set of models act as each agent's intelligent behaviour, for instance allowing the agents to predict and reason about future events and to detect if an error has occurred by subsequently checking its prediction or if the predicted parameter is outside of a certain range. The second model which is common to all the agents in the MAS is a simulation model which supplies sensor readings to the agent and models the physical environment of the agent. The testing suite includes a number of intermediary functions between the models and the MAS to allow for different scenarios to be simulated without changing the simulation model. The models are run separately from the MAS itself, this approach allows new simulation models to be quickly and easily integrated into the testing suite. We demonstrate this approach using an example of a MAS controlled spacecraft formation carrying out formation keeping and orbital control duties. We focus on the agents charged with generating manoeuvres for the spacecraft and executing these manoeuvres. The formation control is achieved by the agents on each spacecraft reasoning about their location in the formation and acquiring their desired position using a distributed potential field control law, a number of different potential field functions are tested.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Radice, Dr Gianmarco and Grey, Dr Stuart
• Authors: Grey, S., and Radice, G.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Autonomous Systems and Connectivity; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• ISBN: 9781617823688

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