Satellite Pointing System based on EAP actuators

This paper presents a new concept design for satellite attitude control. This new concept is based on the use of electroactive polymer beams which control the rotations of a satellite taking advantage of the angular momentum conservation of the whole system. By employing electroactive polymers, a compact and lightweight pointing system is obtained which allows to reduce the need of noisy spinning devices usually requested for satellite attitude control. In this framework, experimental ground testbeds and issues related to the performance of electroactive polymers in space environments are investigated and discussed. Multibody simulation results are also presented in order to show the feasibility of the proposed new concept. A neural network architecture is considered to identify the pointing system and a predictive control is employed to guide satellite rotations. Simulation results obtained using the proposed control strategies are shown and the performance of the proposed pointing system are discussed.