🌍 Master student in the field of AOCS, GNC & FD (d/f/m), title of thesis Reaction wheel commanding with autonomous reconfiguration after wheel failure

Job Description:

In order to support the AOCS, GNC & FD department, Airbus Defence and Space is looking for a

Master student in the field of AOCS, GNC & FD (d/f/m), title of thesis Reaction wheel commanding with autonomous reconfiguration after wheel failure

Are you looking for a final year project? Would you like to discover the work of an engineer? Then apply now! We look forward to you joining us. The AOCS, GNC & FD department is in charge of attitude and orbit control systems (AOCS), Guidance/Navigation/Control (GNC), flight dynamics (FD), and control engineering for all kinds of spacecraft. This includes aspects such as modeling, design, synthesis, and verification & validation of the AOCS/GNC system.

• Location: Friedrichshafen

• Start: 01.11.2023

• Duration: 6 Monate

Thesis topic

Demands on satellites' autonomy are ever increasing with the advent of mega constellations and their operations management. An important aspect of autonomy is the ability to recover from actuator failures without involving the ground segment.

For reaction wheels (one of the most common actuators for attitude control), this means that the commanding algorithm must be reconfigured on board whenever a wheel failure is detected. This problem, for spacecraft with a large number of reaction wheels (upwards of 6) scales rather expensively with the different possible multiple actuator failure combinations.

The crux of the problem is not re-distribution of the control torque, but rather management of the actuator angular momentum via null space commanding. The main objective of this thesis is to design a fault-tolerant null-space command for reaction wheel arrays of arbitrary size and configuration.

You will learn about

Spacecraft attitude control, control torque distribution, spacecraft actuator commanding, reaction wheels angular momentum management, null space commanding.

Your location

At the Airbus site in Friedrichshafen you will be working on innovation where others spend their holidays. Enjoy panoramic views of Lake Constance while having lunch in our canteen. And after work, join one of our many corporate sports groups to go running, sailing or skiing.

Your benefits

• Attractive salary and work-life balance with a 35-hour week (flexitime).

• Mobile working after agreement with the department.

• International environment with the opportunity to network globally.

• Work with modern/diversified technologies.

• At Airbus, we see you as a valuable team member and you are not hired to brew coffee, instead you are in close contact with the interfaces and are part of our weekly team meetings.

• Opportunity to participate in the Generation Airbus Community to expand your own network.

Your tasks and responsibilities

• Systematically analyze reaction wheel array null space commanding in full and degraded configurations.

• Investigate methods for on-board calculation of null space bases for arbitrary RW array configurations

• Analyze optimum null space targets based on RW momentum management needs

• Design the null space controller (e.g., response time), taking into account the torque/momentum distribution methods (e.g., L2, L-Inf)

• Document your work

Desired skills and qualifications

• Your are an enrolled full time student (d/f/m) within Aerospace and Control Engineering or a similar field

• Very good knowledge of linear algebra, attitude dynamics, and control

• Proven familiarity with MATLAB/Simulink

• Creativity and out-of-the-box thinking

• Structured and proactive way of working

• Languages: fluent in English (German is an asset)

Please upload the following documents: cover letter, CV, relevant transcripts, enrollment certificate.

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This job requires an awareness of any potential compliance risks and a commitment to act with integrity, as the foundation for the Company’s success, reputation and sustainable growth.

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