Reaction Wheel Control of an 3D Printed Inverted Pendulum

Abstract

Reaction wheels assemblies have been used as actuation methods for spacecrafts since the begining of space exploration, offering good precision for optical pointing applications. Developing efficient attitude control systems involving reaction wheels is a challanging topic as the dynamical structures of the spacecrafts are very diverse and the presence of distrubances cannot be ignored in the harsh environment of space. Our paper presents a proof-of-concept device inspired from the Inverted Pendulum problem, actuated by a Reaction Wheel to act as a platform for studying control systems using this kind of actuators. The dynamics of the pendulum are determined and an LQR controller is computed to stabilize the pendulum in the upright position. A MATLAB simulator is later used to test the control law and to analyse the performances of the controller for a test case of a real device that is manufactured using PLA 3D Printing.