Applications of General Cell Platform in Satellite Design for Formation Flying

Researches in formation flying are well envisioned in the 21st century including the launching and operation of micro-spacecrafts, establishment of inter-satellite link as well as satellite autonomous management. However, a stable and powerful satellite platform is desired to support these researches. Under such circumstance, general cell platform provides the key. Different from the traditional methods, general cell platform proposed by HIT, has at all levels benefited the satellite design, especially for on-board computer by using the embedded instruments and microcontrollers in terms of SoC methodology. Additionally, in order to cope with the need of formation flying, communication system is intentioned to achieve a novel function of ranging to support the autonomous control. Based on the theory above, a prototype is designed for ground test and further space application. Result reveals that the coordinated attitude control was well implemented when algorithms are running on the prototype based on general cell platform. In general, the application of the platform in formation flying has proved general cell platform as an enabling technology for the future space exploration.