Spacecraft stability margin estimation using telemetry from spacecraft operations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026084842-A1
Application number	US-202519312431-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 28, 2025
Priority date	Sep 22, 2024
Publication date	Mar 26, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system for estimating stability margins of a vehicle includes one or more sensors configured to collect telemetry data during execution of an operational maneuver by a vehicle, wherein the operational maneuver is performed as part of a planned operational sequence of one or more maneuvers, one or more processors, and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to process the telemetry data to determine a transfer function of a control system of the vehicle, the processing including applying one or more transformations to the telemetry data based on an order of a reference input command associated with the operational maneuver, and estimate one or more stability margins of the vehicle control system based on the transfer function.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for estimating stability margins of a vehicle, the system comprising:
one or more sensors configured to collect telemetry data during execution of an operational maneuver by a vehicle, wherein the operational maneuver is performed as part of a planned operational sequence of one or more maneuvers; one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
process the telemetry data to determine a transfer function of a control system of the vehicle, the processing including applying one or more transformations to the telemetry data based on an order of a reference input command associated with the operational maneuver; and
estimate one or more stability margins of the vehicle control system based on the transfer function.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the telemetry data comprises one or more of attitude measurements, angular rate measurements, position measurements, velocity measurements, acceleration measurements, and force measurements.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the system to process the telemetry data by applying the one or more transformations includes computing differenced telemetry data by applying a difference operation to the telemetry data according to the order of the reference input command.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to determine the order of the reference input command associated with the operational maneuver.

5 . The system of claim 3 , wherein processing the telemetry data further comprises applying a Fast Fourier Transform to the differenced telemetry data.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the reference input command includes a polynomial reference input.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the polynomial reference input is of the form r(t)=t m , where m is a nonnegative integer.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein m=0 corresponds to a step input, m=1 corresponds to a ramp input, and m=2 corresponds to a parabolic input.

9 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the instructions cause the system to process the telemetry data by applying a k th order difference operation to the telemetry data, where k=m+1.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the system to process the telemetry data to determine the transfer function without using input command signals in the transfer function computation.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the planned sequence of operational maneuvers comprises a mission plan for the vehicle.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the transfer function is a closed-loop transfer function representing a frequency response from reference commands to measured outputs.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the instructions cause the system to estimate the one or more stability margins by applying Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) stability margin theory to the closed-loop transfer function.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions cause the system to apply MIMO stability margin theory by:
determining a maximum singular value of the closed-loop transfer function at each frequency; and computing gain margins based on a minimum uncertainty radius determined from the maximum singular value of the closed-loop transfer function at each frequency.

15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operational maneuver comprises at least one of an attitude maneuver or a rate maneuver.

16 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to store the estimated stability margins in a data store with corresponding timestamps for post-operation analysis.

17 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to automatically adjust control parameters of the vehicle control system based on the estimated stability margins to maintain desired stability margins as vehicle dynamics change.

18 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to generate an alert when at least one of the estimated stability margins falls below a predetermined threshold value.

19 . A method for estimating stability margins of a vehicle control system, the method comprising:
receiving telemetry data collected during execution of an operational maneuver by a vehicle, wherein the operational maneuver is performed as part of a planned sequence of one or more operational maneuvers; processing the telemetry data to determine a transfer function of the vehicle control system, the processing including applying one or more transformations to the telemetry data based on an order of a reference input command associated with the operational maneuver; and estimating one or more stability margins of the vehicle control system based on the transfer function.

20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving telemetry data collected during execution of an operational maneuver by a vehicle, wherein the operational maneuver is performed as part of a planned operational sequence of one or more maneuvers; processing the telemetry data to determine a transfer function of a control system of the vehicle, the processing including applying one or more transformations to the telemetry data based on an order of a reference input command associated with the operational maneuver; and estimating one or more stability margins of the vehicle control system based on the transfer function.

Assignees

• Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc

Inventors

• Jang Jimmy

Classifications

• B64G1/245

  Attitude control algorithms for spacecraft attitude control · CPC title

• B64G1/66

  Arrangements or adaptations of apparatus or instruments, not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• B64G1/36 Primary

  using sensors, e.g. sun-sensors, horizon sensors · CPC title