A novel fault-tolerance central controller for a space robot

Considering the influence of the outer space environment on the computer system, a novel fault-tolerance central controller for a 6-DOF (Degree of Freedom) space robot is presented. The design of the controller is mainly based on the dual-redundancy idea and COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) components. ARM processor and FPGA co-processor are integrated in this controller. The ARM processor uses AT91FR40162, which takes charge of the tractory planning for the space robot. Meanwhile, using the CORDIC (Coordinate Rotation Digital Computer) algorithm, the forward and inverse kinematics computation of the space robot is simplified and implemented in FPGA co-processor. This approach can effectively reduce the calculation time of kinematics control and optimize real-time performance of the space robot. The structure of the central controller and the control flow for the space robot are presented particularly. The experiment shows that the performance of the central controller meets the reliability, real-time and accuracy requirement of the space robot.