An object oriented dynamic simulation architecture for rapid spacecraft prototyping

This paper describes the object oriented simulation architecture for rapid spacecraft prototyping. The design of this spacecraft dynamic simulator architecture incorporates a uniquely designed C++ virtual database class with linked and embedded classes for the environment, spacecraft (including dynamics), sensors, actuators, time, automated procedures, visualization windows and communication sockets for distributed processing. This architecture provides the foundation for prototyping spacecraft without the need for re-compiling for each variation of the spacecraft design mission. This architecture lends itself to both real-time and non real-time simulations where it may be used in the (1) attitude determination and control system (ADACS) design process; (2) flight software unit testing; (3) flight software/hardware-in-the-loop real-time integration & test; (4) ground control system for mission planning and checkout; (5) post flight anomaly investigation. The heritage for the simulation models is the GSFC hybrid dynamic simulator which was converted to C++ object oriented code. The significant features are: (1) the virtual database; (2) autonomous state integration; (3) transformation engine; (4) scripting Language; (5) C-code generation