ESA GNC Conference Papers Repository

In this paper we evaluate the computational feasibility of Model Predictive Control (MPC), employing a model with nonlinear dynamics and a cone-constraint, which can be used to ensure that a sensitive instrument is not damaged by exposure to the sun. Using state-of-the-art tooling, a Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation is developed, with a simulation environment feeding virtual sensor readings into an On Board Computer (OBC), running a compiled MPC application. Worst case computation times on a ARM Cortex-A53 was found to be in the order of 250 ms during a sun avoidance maneuver. In the non-constrained region the computation time was 10x faster. The evaluation shows that it is feasible to run MPC with nonlinear dynamics and a cone-constraint on modern low power devices.