FORMATION FLYING CONTROL IMPLEMENTATION FOR HIGHLY ELLIPTICAL ORBITS

The Tschauner-Hempel equations are used to correct the separation distance drifts between a pair of satellites within a constellation in highly elliptical orbits. This set of equations was discretized in the true anomaly angle to be used in a digital steady-state hierarchical controller. The objective of a discretized system is to develop a simple algorithm to be implemented in the computer onboard the satellite. The main advantage of discrete systems is that the computational time can be reduced by selecting a suitable sampling interval. The purpose of this paper is to show an implementation of the discrete Tschauner-Hempel equations and the steady-state hierarchical controller in the computer onboard the satellite. This set of equations is expressed in the true anomaly angle in which a relation between the time and the true anomaly angle domains is formulated.