On-orbit frequency identification of spacecraft based on attitude maneuver data

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present an on-orbit frequency identification method for spacecraft directly using attitude maneuver data. Natural frequency of flexible solar arrays plays an important role in attitude control design of spacecraft with solar arrays, and its precision will directly affect the accuracy of attitude maneuver. However, when the flexibility of the solar arrays is large, because of air damping, gravity effect etc., the frequency obtained by ground test shows great error compared with the on-orbit real value. One solution to this problem is to conduct on-orbit identification during which proper identification methods are used to obtain the parameters of interest based on the real on-orbit data of spacecraft. Design/methodology/approach - The observer/Kalman filter identification and eigensystem realization algorithm are used as identification methods, and the attitude maneuver controller is designed using the rigid-body dynamics method. Findings - Two conclusions are drawn in this paper according to results of numerical simulations. The first one is that the attitude controller based on the rigid-body dynamics method is effective in attitude maneuver of the spacecraft. The second one is that the on-orbit parameter identification can be directly achieved by using attitude maneuver data of spacecraft without adding additional missions. Practical implications - Based on the methods proposed in this paper, it is convenient to obtain the natural frequencies of the spacecraft using the data of the attitude maneuver, which may greatly reduce the cost of on-orbit identification test. Originality/value - The way of obtaining natural frequencies based on attitude maneuver data of spacecraft provides high originality and value for practical application.