Combined Platform for Boost Guidance and Attitude Control for Sounding Rockets

Abstract: This report handles the preliminary design of a control system that includes both attitude control and boost control functionality for sounding rockets. This is done to reduce the weight and volume for the control system. A sounding rocket is a small rocket compared to a satellite launcher. It is used to launch payloads into suborbital trajectories. The payload consists of scientific experiments, for example micro-gravity experiments and astronomic observations. The boost guidance system controls the sounding rocket during the launch phase. This is done to minimize the impact dispersion. The attitude control system controls the payload during the experiment phase. The system that is developed in this report is based on the DS19 boost guidance system from Saab Ericsson Space AB. The new system is designed by extending DS19 with software and hardware. The new system is therefore named DS19+. Hardware wise a study of the mechanical and electrical interfaces and also of the system budgets for gas, mass and power for the system are done to determine the feasibility for the combined system. Further a preliminary design of the control software is done. The design has been implemented as pseudo code in MATLAB for testing and simulations. A simulation model for the sounding rocket andits surroundings during the experiment phase has also been designed and implemented in MATLAB. The tests and simulations that have been performed show that the code is suitable for implementation in the real system.