Control techniques in the design of an automated power management and distribution test bed system for the Space Station

A control system concept is presented for space power application with particular reference to Space Station Freedom. To define some specific requirements for the control development, a power system testbed is introduced. A control architecture for the testbed is defined both in hardware and software, and the main software algorithms for the design and development of the testbed are discussed. The use of control techniques in the design of an autonomous power system is briefly explained. A control system hierarchy and system decomposition approach was selected for the controllers as well as control algorithms. Low-level controllers were given a limited role in power management and fault detection for the distributed power system in their area