FFS-CDPR: A free-floating simulator based on cable-driven parallel robots coordinating vibration from discontinuous external wrench

Abstract

The on-ground simulation of a free-floating operational environment is an essential part of the spacecraft dynamic validation. In the state-of-the-art, operational limits such as workspace limitation or limited time duration are a typical problem. As a consequence, we propose a redundant cable-driven parallel robot to reproduce a six-dimensional free-floating scenario. An efficient tension distribution algorithm based on computational geometry is exploited in real time. In addition, for cases where there are discontinuous external wrenches, e.g. docking, collision, a modified optimization method to produce the smallest possible step cable tension. The superiority of the optimization algorithm and the effectiveness of the CDPR-based free-floating movement simulation is verified through experiments.