A Novel Motion Control Mechanism for Satellite Tracking Antenna Using Fuzzy Logic Control of Serial Robot

The real-time motion satellite tracking mechanism of an antenna, allowing communication to and from the satellite is critical for space applications. Mostly, parallel-based mechanisms are employed in space fields for motorizing the antenna due to the cost-effectiveness, high stiffness, easiness of inverse kinematic solution, and high reachable acceleration. Unfortunately, the angular displacements of the end-effector using parallel-based mechanisms are highly limited due to the existence of the passive joints. More recently, serial-based mechanisms are being used to motorize the antenna for tracking the satellite motions in larger horizons compared with parallel-based mechanisms. The inverse kinematic solution complexity, the iso-metric configurations of the joints for a specific position of the end-effector, and highly advanced controller mechanisms are the main difficulties of serial-based mechanisms that should be considered in their implementations. The existing system is using a traditional proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller along with the kinematic modelling which can cause tracking error, inaccuracies and consequently loss in receiving data from satellite. In this study, the ABB irb120 robot is employed as a serial-based mechanism with the attached antenna to efficiently track the low-, medium-, and high-altitudes orbiting satellites. The inverse kinematic model of the proposed robot has been incorporated to extract the robot joints’ configurations with a combination of the new fuzzy logic controller compared with a PID controller to increase the motion tracking performance. The simulation study is conducted using MATLAB/SimMechanic to model the mechanism with consideration of the constraints. The results prove satellite motion can be tracked with higher accuracy using the fuzzy logic controller compared to the existing PID controller.