Cubesat Docking Simulator Final Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND DESIGN IMEE FINAL YEAR BEng PROJECT REPORT CubeSat Docking Simulator William Easdown May 10th 2019 “I certify that I have read and understood the entry on Plagiarism, duplication of one’s own work and Cheating on the Quality Assurance Code of Practice QA53 and in my Departmental Student Handbook. All material in this assignment is my own work, except where I have indicated with appropriate references. I agree that, in line with Regulation 15.3(e), if requested I will submit an electronic copy of this work for submission to a Plagiarism Detection Service for quality assurance purposes.” Author’s signature: …………………………. Supervisor: Dr Rob Wortham Assessor: Dr Pejman Iravani CUBESAT DOCKING SIMULATOR FINAL REPORT AUTHOR: WILLIAM EASDOWN SUPERVISOR: DR ROB WORTHAM ASSESSOR: DR PEJMAN IRAVANI Figure 1 - Render of the CubeSat Docking Simulator final CAD model i Abstract This document presents a CubeSat Docking Simulator that has been designed and manufactured for the author’s Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) Final Year Project (FYP) at the University of Bath. Air tables, air bearings and robot arms are currently used widely in the space sector for modelling of satellite motion, but this report presents a Mecanum-wheeled system as an alternative. The Simulator system consists of a robot and controller, with the robot using stepper motor-driven Mecanum wheels for omnidirectional motion across the plane of a floor. The robot and controller both use Raspberry Pi computers to control their electronics and for communication between the two devices. They are both powered by lithium polymer batteries. Code for both devices is written in Python. Design and manufacture used a range of techniques, such as computer aided design, 3D printing and the use of traditional tools such as drills and mills. Testing of the system was broken into subsections. The controller worked fully as intended, but robot propulsion could not be achieved. It is suspected by the author that this was due to a software issue, which will be investigated in future work. However, the system still met the majority of its requirements. Design decisions taken during the project included manufacturing printed circuit boards at home and changing the model of Raspberry Pi computer that was used in the controller. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr Rob Wortham for his excellent support as my supervisor during the project, including very useful technical assistance. Feedback from Dr Pejman Iravani has been extremely helpful in my design and documentation process. Zoë Babb has also given me fantastic support throughout the project. ii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. ii List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables .......................................................................................................................................... vi List of Acronyms .................................................................................................................................... vii 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................ 1 2.1 Current Methods of Docking Simulation ................................................................................ 1 2.1.1 Air Tables and Air Bearings ............................................................................................. 1 2.1.2 Robot Arms ..................................................................................................................... 1 2.1.3 Omni-Directional Robots................................................................................................. 2 2.2 Mecanum Wheels ................................................................................................................... 2 2.3 Similar Systems ....................................................................................................................... 2 2.3.1 Robots ............................................................................................................................. 2 2.3.2 Controllers ....................................................................................................................... 3 3 Design, Manufacture and Testing ................................................................................................... 4 3.1 System Overview..................................................................................................................... 4 3.1.1 Robot ............................................................................................................................... 6 3.1.1.1 Power .......................................................................................................................... 6 3.1.1.2 Propulsion ................................................................................................................... 7 3.1.1.3 Control ........................................................................................................................ 8 3.1.1.4 Software ...................................................................................................................... 8 3.1.1.4.1 Function Definitions .............................................................................................. 9 3.1.1.4.1.1 motor_speeds(motor1_speed, motor2_speed, motor3_speed, motor4_speed, dms) ........................................................................................................... 9 3.1.1.4.1.2 pulse(xPin) ..................................................................................................... 9 3.1.1.4.1.3 stop(allpins) ................................................................................................... 9 3.1.1.4.1.4 shutdown(allpins) .......................................................................................... 9 3.1.1.4.1.5 stepper_drive(allpins, speeds) ....................................................................... 9 3.1.1.4.2 Initialisation ........................................................................................................ 10 3.1.1.4.2.1 Libraries and Functions ................................................................................ 10 3.1.1.4.2.2 Variables ...................................................................................................... 10 3.1.1.4.2.3 Motors ......................................................................................................... 11 3.1.1.4.2.4 Buttons ......................................................................................................... 11 3.1.1.4.3 Main Loop ........................................................................................................... 11 3.1.2 Controller ...................................................................................................................... 12 iii 3.1.2.1 Case ........................................................................................................................... 13 3.1.2.2 Control ...................................................................................................................... 13 3.1.2.3 Power ........................................................................................................................ 13 3.1.2.4 User Interface............................................................................................................ 14 3.1.2.5 Software .................................................................................................................... 15 3.2 Design and Manufacture Methods ....................................................................................... 15 3.2.1 Overall System .............................................................................................................. 15 3.2.2 Robot ............................................................................................................................. 16 3.2.3 Controller ...................................................................................................................... 16 3.2.3.1 Case ........................................................................................................................... 16 3.2.3.2 Electronics ................................................................................................................. 17 3.3 Safety .................................................................................................................................... 18 3.4 Testing ................................................................................................................................... 18 3.4.1 Controller ...................................................................................................................... 18 3.4.1.1 Screen .......................................................................................................................