Modeling and Design of Electrical Power Subsystem for CubeSats

Abstract

The launch of small satellites (also known as CubeSats) has been exponentially increasing in academia and industry since the last decade. The Electrical Power Subsystem (EPS) plays a critical role to ensure a reliable and sustained operation of CubeSats. Primarily, the EPS consists of solar cells, battery, converters and power management boards. Simulating the operation of EPS before launch of a satellite is critical in proving design and developed controllers. In this paper, we provide a simulation model of EPS for simulation in MATLAB/Simulink. An EPS system with a payload consisting of an earth image capturing camera is modeled using switching converters, PV cell model and intrinsic Simulink battery model to investigate control dynamics in detail. The EPS dynamics are studied during the transition of an operational mode of CubeSat and the impact of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of PV array on battery is also analyzed.