DANCE: Integration and Avionics Testing of 5 DOF Experimental Facility for Relative GNC

DANCE is an on-going research project at Aerospace Science and Technology Department of Politecnico di Milano aimed at developing a 5 DOF multi-vehicle frictionless facility for on-ground testing and validation of spacecraft GNC maneuvering. In particular, the paper presents the full design and testing campaign performed on the complete propulsion system, the calibration and development of the avionics hardware and software. Moreover, the paper presents the design and integration of the on-board avionics, both in terms of software and hardware. The procedure for the development and deployment of control and navigation algorithms is described, with the particular focus on the compatibility and the aim of fast prototyping. Successful functional tests have been performed with the navigation and control algorithms for the main actuators, namely the aforementioned servo-valves and the electric motors driving the reaction wheels. A rigorous calibration routine has been defined in order to assess actual performance of the sensor suite, comprising IMU and magnetometers.