MODELLING A HELMHOLTZ CAGE FOR GROUND TESTING OF ADCS OF NANOSATELLITES

Abstract

This research focuses on providing a dynamically driven ground testing equipment for the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) of a nanosatellite through a Helmholtz cage that can provide a volume of a uniform magnetic field. The magnetic field components in each 3-axes can be varied independently by controlling the current supplied to each of the respective coil pairs. The orbital in formation was extracted from a selected Two-Line Element (TLE) by implementing an algorithm in MATLAB. To emulate these derived magnetic fields, the Helmholtz cage was calibrated by observing the generated magnetic field from the coil pairs according to the supplied current input using a driver circuit. By deriving a relationship between the pulse width and the generated magnetic field the experimental magnetic field was plotted. The experimental variation was fairly similar to the expected magnetic field variation. Therefore, this process will be able to implement as a fully functional ground testing method for ADCS of nanosatellite with some improvements.