Related papers: Spacecraft Swarm Dynamics and Control About Astero…
Understanding the physics of small bodies such as asteroids, comets, and planetary moons will help us understand the formation of the solar system, and also provide us with resources for a future space economy. Due to these reasons,…
Planetary bodies such as asteroids, comets, and planetary moons are high-value science targets as they hold important information about the formation and evolution of our solar system. However, due to their low-gravity, variable sizes and…
This paper presents an autonomous guidance and control strategy for a satellite swarm that enables scalable distributed space structures for innovative science and business opportunities. The averaged $J_2$ orbital parameters that describe…
The exploration of small bodies in the Solar System is a high priority planetary science. Asteroids, comets, and planetary moons yield important information about the evolution of the Solar System. Additionally, they could provide resources…
This paper first defines a class of estimation problem called simultaneous navigation and characterization (SNAC), which is a superset of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). A SNAC framework is then developed for the Autonomous…
Swarms of small spacecraft offer whole new capabilities in Earth observation, global positioning and communications compared to a large monolithic spacecraft. These small spacecrafts can provide bigger apertures that increase gain in…
Robot swarms hold immense potential for performing complex tasks far beyond the capabilities of individual robots. However, the challenge in unleashing this potential is the robots' limited sensory capabilities, which hinder their ability…
This paper presents a new algorithm for autonomous multitarget tracking of resident space objects using optical angles-only measurements from a spaceborne observer. To enable autonomous angles-only navigation of spacecraft swarms, an…
This paper presents an integrated model-learning predictive control scheme for spacecraft orbit-attitude station-keeping in the vicinity of asteroids. The orbiting probe relies on optical and laser navigation while attitude measurements are…
This study considers the control of parent-child systems where a parent system is acted on by a set of controllable child systems (i.e. a swarm). Examples of such systems include a swarm of robots pushing an object over a surface, a swarm…
Swarms are highly robust systems that offer unique benefits compared to their alternatives. In this work, we propose a bio-inspired and artificial potential field-driven robot swarm control method, where the swarm formation dynamics are…
This paper investigates a swarm-based concept in which a number of nanosatellites, referred to as NanoTugs, are deployed by a mother spacecraft to capture and cooperatively stabilize and de-orbit space debris. The study focuses on the…
Proper modelling of the gravitational fields of irregularly shaped asteroids and comets is an essential yet challenging part of any spacecraft visit and flyby to these bodies. Accurate density representations provide crucial information for…
We present a method for the control of robot swarms using two subsets of robots: a larger group of simple, oblivious robots (which we call the workers) that is governed by simple local attraction forces, and a smaller group (the guides)…
Autonomous modeling of artificial swarms is necessary because manual creation is a time intensive and complicated procedure which makes it impractical. An autonomous approach employing deep reinforcement learning is presented in this study…
This paper focuses on coordinating a robot swarm orbiting a convex path without collisions among the individuals. The individual robots lack braking capabilities and can only adjust their courses while maintaining their constant but…
Formation control problem is one of the most concerned topics within the realm of swarm intelligence, which is usually solved by conventional mathematical approaches. In this paper, however, we presents a metaheuristic approach that…
In this work, we propose a minimalistic swarm flocking approach for multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Our approach allows the swarm to achieve cohesively and aligned flocking (collective motion), in a random direction, without…
The growing number of noncooperative flying objects has prompted interest in sample-return and space debris removal missions. Current solutions are both costly and largely dependent on specific object identification and capture methods. In…
With the rapid development of AI and robotics, transporting a large swarm of networked robots has foreseeable applications in the near future. Existing research in swarm robotics has mainly followed a bottom-up philosophy with predefined…