Why can Beidou satellites be "self-disciplined"? The secret lies in the control system

　　According to a report by Science and Technology Daily on November 8, the first two BeiDou -3 satellites flew into space on November 5. By this time next year, they will welcome more than a dozen companions, and by 2020, the BeiDou satellite fleet will reach more than 30. Let's follow the security electronics editor to learn about the relevant content.

　　With this huge team working together, will any satellite "make up the numbers" or "absent from duty"? Science and Technology Daily reporter learned from the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation that " Beidou " is a group of "self-disciplined" satellites that know where they should stay and what they should do. This self-discipline comes from the control system developed by the Fifth Academy for them.

　　The control system is the general commander of the satellite to maintain the correct orbit and correct attitude in the sky. It can collect the satellite's orbit and attitude information in real time, and once an abnormality is found, it will command the satellite to return to normal.

　　The control system of BeiDou-3 can exchange information with the satellite sensor actuators and control the actions of the actuators through the integrated electronic subsystem, completing the attitude control and orbit control of the satellite from the separation of the rocket and the satellite, to the operation in orbit and at the end of its life. At the same time, the system also gives the satellite a certain degree of fully autonomous operation capability. Even if the ground tracking and control station fails, they can still work normally in orbit for at least 60 days. This greatly reduces the satellite's dependence on the ground station, realizes satellite control outside the "visible" range, and reduces the system's operation and management costs.

　　Previously, the management of satellite telemetry, remote control, attitude and orbit control, power supply, thermal control, payload and satellite services were usually completed separately in different processing units. The BeiDou-3 control system adopts an "integrated electronic" system architecture, with the central management unit as the core, to build a distributed system. Among them, the central management unit was independently developed by the Fifth Academy, and its management functions cover almost all aspects of the satellite. Such an architecture brings more complex management, but it can also reduce the weight of the satellite and extend its life.

　　Whether it is the calculation of attitude and orbit information or the intelligent autonomous operation of the satellite, extremely high requirements are placed on the computing performance of the control system. The BeiDou-3 control system uses an autonomous navigation algorithm based on star sensors + infrared earth sensors to regularly update onboard orbit data, allowing the satellite to have the ability to autonomously obtain orbit data.

　　Ordinary satellites can jet unload when maintaining their position, but navigation satellites are not allowed to jet when working. In order to ensure that the BeiDou-3 satellite will not jet unload during the 60-day autonomous operation, the research and development team of the Fifth Academy has perfected and improved the angular momentum management and magnetic torquer unloading functions of the control system to meet the mission requirements.

　　In addition, the control system also has single-machine and system-level fault safety designs, which improves the Beidou-3 satellite's autonomous fault real-time diagnosis and processing capabilities when onboard resources are limited.

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