A Fully Distributed Electrical Power System for Small Satellites

This paper proposes a novel fully distributed electri-cal power system (FD-EPS) for small satellites. Current EPSs are first summarized, and satellite energy balance and requirements for EPS are analyzed. The design of a FD-EPS, which divides each function in the current EPS into parallelizable modules, is then proposed. Each module can operate independently or be controlled by an on-board computer. The modules are connected through a power bus and a communication bus to simplify the connection. The capability of the EPS can be expanded by adding more modules or improving the modules' capability. Prototypes for each module type were developed, and preliminary tests were conducted.