Satellite propagation and attitude control Matlab based simulator
A Matlab based satellite simulator is developed for the purpose of satellite control design. The simulator is designed in a form of object oriented software toolset, which supports simulation of various satellites: uncontrolled satellite, satellite with attitude control, satellite with position control, satellite with image based control. Simulation of satellite formation is supported as well, which enables the formation flying studies. The simulator is designed for advanced users with knowledge of Matlab script programming. The user has to write a Matlab program where the satellite objects are created and the needed object methods are invoked. Objects with animation support are available, which enable to observe the satellite trajectory over the Earth surface during simulation as shown in figure. After the simulation all the important variables are available in Matlab workspace for post processing and analysis with standard Matlab functions and toolboxes. Additionally, some trajectory plotting functions are implemented within the simulator.
The simulator has been successfully applied as an assistant tool in parameter verification for the design of real satellite experiments.