Method and system for autonomous spacecraft control
First Claim
1. A spacecraft system having a ground-based system and a spacecraft, having an operational status, used to carry out a plurality of mission objectives, the spacecraft comprising:
- a plurality of actuators;
a plurality of sensors that produce data indicative of the operational status of the spacecraft;
a flight manager, coupled to the plurality of actuators and the plurality of sensors, that controls the plurality of actuators pursuant to any of a plurality of lower level commands;
a transceiver capable of receiving both selected ones of the plurality of lower level commands from a ground-based system destined for the flight manager, and selected ones of a plurality of higher level commands that represent the plurality of mission objectives;
an autonomous control system, communicatively coupled to the flight manager, that autonomously attempts to carry out the plurality of mission objectives through scheduling and occasionally rescheduling of the selected ones of the plurality of mission goals; and
the autonomous control system generates, from the selected ones of the plurality of higher level commands, sequences of lower level commands that are delivered to the flight manager.
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Abstract
An autonomous control system supports autonomous operation of the a spacecraft in carrying out mission objective commands. The control system also provides autonomous fault detection, isolation and recovery. Performance problems and anomalies are detected and accounted for in the carrying out mission objectives. A mission manager module analyzes all incoming mission objective commands to verify that sufficient system resources are available and not already dedicated to other pending mission objective commands. A command processor is included to translate acceptable mission objective commands into lower level command sequences for delivery to a flight manager controlling the underlying spacecraft systems. The mission manager reanalyzes all pending mission objective commands whenever unexpected performance or fault conditions are detected. The mission objective commands can be constructed in a hierarchical fashion, with many sequences predefined within the spacecraft. All portions of the autonomous control system, including software and associated data, can be readily replaced, supplemented or disabled at any time before, during or after launch.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A spacecraft system having a ground-based system and a spacecraft, having an operational status, used to carry out a plurality of mission objectives, the spacecraft comprising:
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a plurality of actuators; a plurality of sensors that produce data indicative of the operational status of the spacecraft; a flight manager, coupled to the plurality of actuators and the plurality of sensors, that controls the plurality of actuators pursuant to any of a plurality of lower level commands; a transceiver capable of receiving both selected ones of the plurality of lower level commands from a ground-based system destined for the flight manager, and selected ones of a plurality of higher level commands that represent the plurality of mission objectives; an autonomous control system, communicatively coupled to the flight manager, that autonomously attempts to carry out the plurality of mission objectives through scheduling and occasionally rescheduling of the selected ones of the plurality of mission goals; and the autonomous control system generates, from the selected ones of the plurality of higher level commands, sequences of lower level commands that are delivered to the flight manager. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A spacecraft, having an operational status, used to carry out a plurality of mission objectives, the spacecraft comprising:
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a plurality of sensors producing data indicative of the operational status of the spacecraft; a plurality of actuators; a controller, communicatively coupled to control the plurality of actuators, that operates pursuant to instructions received; an analyzer communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensors to monitor and evaluate the data produced; and a mission manager, communicatively coupled to the analyzer, that schedules and occasionally reschedules instructions for the controller to autonomously carry out the plurality of mission objectives. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A spacecraft, having an operational status, used to carry out a plurality of mission objectives, the spacecraft comprising:
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a plurality of actuators; a plurality of sensors producing data indicative of the operational status of the spacecraft; an analyzer communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensors to monitor and evaluate the data produced; and a mission manager, communicatively coupled to the analyzer, that schedules and occasionally reschedules higher level instructions to autonomously carry out the plurality of mission objectives; a command processor, communicatively coupled to receive scheduled higher level instructions from the mission manager, that generates lower level instructions from the higher level instructions received; and a control module, communicatively coupled to control the plurality of actuators, that operates pursuant to lower level instructions received from the command processor. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A spacecraft system having a spacecraft, with an operational status, capable of carrying out a plurality of mission objectives, the spacecraft system comprising:
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a plurality of ground units each having a ground transceiver; a plurality of actuators disposed on the spacecraft; a plurality of sensors, disposed on the spacecraft, that produce data indicative of the operational status of the spacecraft; a flight manager, disposed on the spacecraft, that controls the plurality of actuators pursuant to any of a plurality of lower level commands; a spacecraft transceiver, disposed on the spacecraft, capable of receiving and routing ones of the plurality of lower level commands from at least one of the plurality of ground units to the flight manager; an autonomous control system, disposed on the spacecraft and communicatively coupled to both the flight manager and the spacecraft transceiver, that autonomously carries out ones of the plurality of mission objectives through receipt, scheduling and occasionally rescheduling of mission objectives; and
the autonomous control system translating the higher level commands into sequences of lower level commands for delivery to the flight manager. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification