Application of AI to real-time intelligent attitude control of spacecraft

Modern spacecraft demand from an attitude control system very high performance and accuracy, and many new features, such as self-modification, adaptability, more autonomy, and fault tolerance. It is noted that artificial intelligence and knowledge-based system techniques can be applied to spacecraft attitude control to meet the demanding requirements and to provide many new features. The author discusses the need for and the benefits of integrating artificial intelligence and automatic control techniques. This approach gives the attitude control system the power of reasoning, judgment, and learning and the capability to cope with unexpected and changing situations. An architecture for a real-time intelligent attitude controller is described, consisting of a traditional low-level controller and a knowledge-based system provides meta control to the low-level controller