Spacecraft robotics toolkit: an open-source simulator for spacecraft robotic arm dynamic modeling and control

Abstract

An open-source, six-degree-of freedom kinematic and dynamic software toolkit for a spacecraft with attached robotic arm has been developed and released. The toolkit is capable of simulating a floating or a flying base and can handle external forces, both in operational and in joint space. Based on a Newton-Euler approach which makes use of the Decoupled Natural Orthogonal Complement matrix, the forward and inverse dynamics are solved using an efficient, recursive O (n) algorithm. Recursive O (n) formulations to obtain the generalized inertia and convective inertia matrices have also been implemented. Written as a collection of function for MATLAB/ Simulink, the toolkit is very modular and it can be used for standalone MATLAB scripts or for Simulink models. The resulting Simulink models are suitable for code generation and thus can be readily compiled and executed into embedded hardware or integrated with third party tools. In addition to modeling the kinematics and dynamics, the software includes tools to help the user create control and analysis applications.