ACS Test Bed

The ASTROFEIN ACS Test Bed is a hardware-in-the-loop (HILS) ground test bench for end-to-end verification of the attitude control system (ACS) of small and micro satellites. It uses an air-bearing mounting platform allowing free 360-degree rotation around the vertical axis and 20-30 degree rotation around the horizontal axis, combined with high-precision in-orbit magnetic field simulation, electronic center-of-gravity calibration, and adjustable/movable sun simulation. Command and control is provided over a WLAN interface, with built-in safety mechanisms for smooth operation and installation, and power supply for the device under test.

The test bed supports complex, long-duration end-to-end verification of ACS systems, complementing software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop testing. The high-precision air bearing with non-contact air-gap calibration keeps disturbance forces along all three axes comparable to actual in-orbit disturbance torques in LEO, and includes a safety mechanism to protect the bearing. The GNSS simulation subsystem supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou-2, WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN, SDCM, QZSS, and IRNSS signals, and an optional star simulator can drive up to four optical heads simultaneously, simulating stars, planets, sun, moon, scattered light, and protons. An external 3D motion-tracking reference system independently measures platform and test-specimen position. A smaller-scale NanoSat Test Bed variant, with an ultra-low-disturbance-torque air bearing, is also available for CubeSat-class ACS testing.