Tether - Platform coupled control

Abstract From the control point of view, tethered systems pose several challenges, the major one pertaining to the regulation of the unstable system dynamics during the retrieval phase. On the other hand, the system configuration permits design of controllers using length rate, tension and offset schemes, which are not feasible with other satellites. Here “offset” refers to the time dependent variation of the tether attachment point at the platform end. The present paper studies several applications of the offset scheme in controlling the tethered systems. To that end, planar equations of motion of a space platform based Tethered Satellite System (TSS) are derived by the Lagrangian procedure. This is followed by representative results aimed at the offset control of platform pitch, tether attitude and vibration motions. The offset scheme is used for simultaneous control of platform and tether pitch motion. Finally the attention is directed towards simultaneous regulation of the platform pitch and longitudinal tether vibration. The numerical results clearly show considerable promise for the offset control scheme in regulating tether, platform and combined tether-platform dynamics.