Attitude Controller Design and Test of Korea Space Launch Vehicle-I Upper Stage

Abstract

This paper introduces the upper stage attitude control system of KSLV-I, which is the first space launch vehicle in Korea. The KSLV-I upper stage attitude control system consists of two electro-hydraulic actuators and a reaction control system using cold nitrogen gas. A proportional, derivative, and integral controller is designed for the electro-hydraulic thrust vectoring system, and Schmidt trigger ON/OFF controllers are designed for the reaction control system. Each attitude controller is designed to have enough stability margins. The stability and performance of KSLV-I upper stage attitude control system is verified via hardware in the loop tests. Hardware in the loop tests are accomplished for perturbed flight conditions as well as nominal flight condition. The test results show that the attitude control loop of KSLV-I upper stage is very stable and the attitude controllers perform well for all flight conditions. Attitude controllers designed in this paper have been successfully applied to the first flight of KSLV-I on August 25, 2009. The flight test results show that all attitude controllers of the KSLV-I upper stage performed well and satisfied the accuracy specifications even during abnormal flight conditions.