Fault-tolerant control system for joint module of light weight space robotic system

This paper studies a fault-tolerant control system designed for a joint module of a light weight space robotic system. Considering the extremely tight constraints on small mass, low power consumption, low volume, stringent cost control, high system reliability, etc, the joint electronics is divided into two layers, central processing layer and peripheral interface layer, using different redundancy design on each layer. Fault modes of the joint electronics and its effects on the performance of servo control of joint position are deeply analyzed. Based on the results of the analysis, fault-tolerant mechanisms are proposed. The features of the hardware and software of the fault-tolerant control system are also presented. A prototype is developed, and performance is tested. With the results, the feasibility of the system design is verified.