Attitude estimation and angular velocity estimation are the most critical components of a spacecraft's guidance, navigation and control. Usually, an array of tightlycoupled sensors (star trackers, gyroscopes, sun sensors, magnetometers) is used to estimate these quantities. The cost (financial, mass, power, time, human resources) for the integration of these separate sub-systems is a major deterrent towards realizing the goal of smaller, cheaper and faster to launch spacecrafts/satellites. In this work, we present a novel stellar imaging system that is capable of estimating attitude and angular velocities at true update rates of greater than 100Hz, thereby eliminating the need for a separate star tracker and gyroscope sub-systems. High image acquisition rates necessitate short integration times and large optical apertures, thereby adding mass and volume to the sensor. The proposed high speed sensor overcomes these difficulties by employing light amplification technologies coupled with fiber optics. To better understand the performance of the sensor, an electro-optical model of the sensor system is developed which is then used to design a high-fidelity night sky image simulator. Novel star position estimation algorithms based on a two-dimensional Gaussian fitting to the star pixel intensity profiles are then presented. These algorithms are non-iterative, perform local background estimation in the vicinity of the star and lead to significant improvements in the star centroid determination. Further, a new attitude determination algorithm is developed that uses the inter-star angles of the identified stars as constraints to recompute the body measured vectors and provide a higher accuracy estimate of the attitude as compared to existing methods. The spectral response of the sensor is then used to develop a star catalog generation method that results in a compact on-board star catalog. Finally, the use of a fiber optic faceplate is proposed as an additional means of stray light mitigation for the system. This dissertation serves to validate the conceptual design of the high update rate star sensor through analysis, hardware design, algorithm development and experimental testing.

In the operation of CMGs there exists a concept called “back drive,” which represents a case where the coupling effects of the angular velocity of the body and the angular momentum of the CMG overwhelm the input torque and result in a lack of control. This effect is known but not well documented or studied in the literature. Starting from first principles, this thesis derives the full nonlinear dynamical equations for CMGs. These equations contain significantly more terms than are found in the literature. As a means to understand the implications of these terms, a reduced order model is derived. The full and reduced models are then validated by means of extensive simulations. Finally, experimental verification of the models confirms the finding that the reduced order model provides a reasonably high fidelity for dynamics.

Position and navigation of vehicle in two and three dimensions have been important as being advanced technology. Therefore, some system has been evaluated to get information of vehicle&rsquo / s position. Main problem in navigation is how to determine position and rotation in three dimensions. If position and rotation is determined, navigation will also be determined with respect to their initial point. There is a technology that vehicle velocity can be discovered, but a technology that rotation can be discovered is needed. Sensor which sense rotation is called gyroscope. If this instrument consists of optical and solid state material, it&rsquo / s defined by Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG). There are various studies in order to increase the sensitivity of fiber optic gyroscopes, which is an excellent vehicle for sensing rotation. One of them is interferometric fiber optic gyroscope with amplified optical feedback (FE_FOG). In this system, a feedback loop, which sent the output pulse through the input again, is used. The total output is the summation of each interference and it is in pulse state. The peak position of the output pulse is shifted when rotation occurs. Analyzing this shift, the rotation angle can be determined. In this study, fiber optic gyroscopes, their components and performance characteristics were reviewed. The simulation code was developed by VPIsystems and I used VPItransmissionMakerTM software in this work. The results getting from both rotation and nonrotation cases were analyzed to determine the rotation angle and sensitivity of the gyroscope.

This master thesis presents an experimental design of a laser gyroscope based on a stabilized fiber optical parametric oscillator frequency comb and the results of testing of the proposed design. Before going into the experimental details, a background for different types of gyroscopes is discussed. This new laser gyroscope design is made up of only polarization maintaining (PM) fiber and PM fiber components. By using only fiber and fiber components, we were able to minimize size, weight, and alignment issues that are typical in bulk optical designs for OPO's and gyroscopes. The fiber-based OPO produces counter propagating ultrafast pulses that overlap only twice in the cavity, resulting in a beatnote signal when combined outside of the laser cavity. A mode-locked laser is used as a pump source so the lock-in effect (or deadband region) is avoided for the experiment. The drift of this beatnote signal represents the rotation sensitivity of the experimental setup. Issues seen in past iterations, such as stability of mode-locked pump source and beatnote drift overtime due to environmental variables, have been reduced in this experiment. This has been done by comprising the entire pump source of PM components, and by placing the entire setup in an insulating box to minimize acoustic and temperature fluctuations. By creating a frequency comb and locking the laser gyroscope to an optical clock, this experiment can be used for very precise rotation sensing in comparison to other gyro designs currently available.

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Self-balancing robots are unique mobile platforms that stay upright on two wheels using a closed-loop control system. They can turn on the spot using differential steering and have compact form factors that limit their required floor space. However they have major limitations keeping them from being used in real world applications: they cannot stand-up on their own, climb stairs, or overcome obstacles. They can fall easily if hit or going onto a slippery surface because they rely on friction for balancing. The first part of this research proposes a novel design to address the above mentioned issues related to stair-climbing, standing-up, and obstacles. A single revolute joint is added to the centre of a four-wheel drive robot onto which an arm is attached, allowing the robot to successfully climb stairs and stand-up on its own from a single motion. A model and simulation of the balancing and stair-climbing process are derived, and compared against experimental results with a custom robot prototype. The second part, a control system for an inverted pendulum equipped with a gyroscopic mechanism, was investigated for integration into self-balancing robots. It improves disturbance rejection during balance, and keeps equilibrium on slippery surfaces. The model of a gyroscope mounted onto an actuated gimbal was derived and simulated. To prove the concept worked, a custom-built platform showed it is possible for a balancing robot to stay upright with zero traction under the wheels.

This thesis deals with the design of a helicopter with four rotors known as quadcopter. It describes the principles of operation and existing modifications. Part of the work is the selection of a suitable frame, remote control set, engines and propellers, battery, sensors for stabilization and detection of obstacles and microcontroller for their operation. The paper presents the concept of the specific copter design, design and simulation of printed circuit boards to their self-production, activation and testing. The final part of the thesis includes an economic assessment of the project and its comparison with competitors.

This work deals with design and construction of unstable double wheeled Segway-like vehicle built for human personnel transportation and its smaller scaled clone developed for control algorithms testing. The smaller machine is controlled via Joystick and PC. This work was conducted in team consisting of three students. Individual goals are described in chapter „Stanovení cílů práce“. The beginning of the work deals with researching any similar projects concerned with this topic, especially with sensors and control algorithms used. Further, the work describes the process of choosing used electronics and its parameters. One of the problems faced during the work was the pitch angle of the vehicle base calculation - algorithm of the angle calculation had been designed by students of several world universities. The principle of how it works was studied and then tested by simulations and practically in the following chapters. Further on, the work deals with platform‘s parameter estimation, at first the testing platform made of wood, followed by the final platform made of aluminium. Parameter estimation was realized by using the multifunctional I/O card Humusoft MF 624 for PC. Part of the work deals with the final control algorithm on the dsPIC microcontroller implementation, sensor‘s outputs calculation and calibration algorithm design. Since the vehicle is built for human personnel transportation, implementation of certain safety algorithms was necessary. These algorithms should be able to detect possible fail states and prevent the driver from losing control over the vehicle in order to prevent any injuries.

abstract: Riding a bicycle requires accurately performing several tasks, such as balancing and navigation, which may be difficult or even impossible for persons with disabilities. These difficulties may be partly alleviated by providing active balance and steering assistance to the rider. In order to provide this assistance while maintaining free maneuverability, it is necessary to measure the position of the rider on the bicycle and to understand the rider's intent. Applying autonomy to bicycles also has the potential to address some of the challenges posed by traditional automobiles, including CO2 emissions, land use for roads and parking, pedestrian safety, high ownership cost, and difficulty traversing narrow or partially obstructed paths. The Smart Bike research platform provides a set of sensors and actuators designed to aid in understanding human-bicycle interaction and to provide active balance control to the bicycle. The platform consists of two specially outfitted bicycles, one with force and inertial measurement sensors and the other with robotic steering and a control moment gyroscope, along with the associated software for collecting useful data and running controlled experiments. Each bicycle operates as a self-contained embedded system, which can be used for untethered field testing or can be linked to a remote user interface for real-time monitoring and configuration. Testing with both systems reveals promising capability for applications in human-bicycle interaction and robotics research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Software Engineering 2020

abstract: Bicycles and motorcycles offer maneuverability, energy efficiency and acceleration that four wheeled vehicles cannot offer given similar budget for. Two wheeled vehicles have drastically different dynamics from four wheeled vehicles due to their instability and gyroscopic effect from their wheels. This thesis focuses on self-stabilization of a motorcycle using an active control momentum gyroscope (CMG) and validation of this multi-degree-of-freedom system’s mathematical model. Physical platform was created to mimic the simulation as accurately as possible and all components used were justified. This process involves derivation of a 3 Degree-of-Freedom (DOF) system’s forward kinematics and its Jacobian matrix, simulation analysis of different controller algorithms, setting the system and subsystem specifications, and real system experimentation and data analysis. A Jacobian matrix was used to calculate accurately decomposed resultant angular velocities which are used to create the dynamics model of the system torque using the Euler-Lagrange method. This produces a nonlinear second order differential equation that is modeled using MATLAB/Simulink. PID, and cascaded feedback loop are tested in this Simulink model. Cascaded feedback loop shows most promises in the simulation analysis. Therefore, system specifications are calculated according to the data produced by this controller method. The model validation is executed using the Vicon motion capture system which captured the roll angle of the motorcycle. This work contributes to creating a set of procedures for creating a validated dynamic model for a CMG stabilized motorcycle which can be used to create variants of other self-stabilizing motorcycle system. / Dissertation/Thesis / Self-balancing test Trial 3 / Self-balancing test Trial 1 / Self-balancing test Trial 2 / Masters Thesis Engineering 2020