Development of MIL and PIL testbed for Student Microsatellite Attitude Control Subsystem

This paper presents the design, analysis and performance verification test of student microsatellite Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADCS). ADCS design and implementation procedure contain several various steps. There are four main test levels during simulation called “Model-in-the-Loop”, “Software-in-the-Loop”, “Processor-in-the-Loop” and “Hardware-in-the-Loop”. This paper results from scientific and practical research during two years on the student microsatellite, an eight-nation collaboration project among Asia-Pacific universities. In what follows, “Model-in-the-Loop” and “Processor-in-the-Loop” test and simulation will be discussed. This paper aims to illustrate the result of these two tests and validate the ADCS design. In the end, it is demonstrated that designed control algorithms are precise enough to meet the student microsatellite ADCS requirements, and they can be used in the next level of microsatellite development.