Analysis on the attitude dynamics of a PhoneSat during deployment

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to establish the dynamics model of a Z-folded PhoneSat considering hinge friction and to investigate the influence of disturbances, such as friction, stiffness asymmetry, deployment asynchronicity and initial disturbance angular velocity, on the attitude of PhoneSat during and after deployment. Design/methodology/approach: For the Z-folded PhoneSat, the dynamics model considering hinge friction is established and the dynamics simulation is carried out. The effects of friction, stiffness asymmetry, deployment asynchronicity and initial disturbance angular velocity on the attitude motion of the PhoneSat are studied and the attitude motion regularities of the PhoneSat considering the disturbance factors mentioned above are discussed. Findings: Friction has a main contribution to reducing the oscillation of attitude motion and damping out the residual oscillation, ultimately decreasing the deployment time. An increasing length of deployment time is required with the increasing stiffness asymmetry and time difference of asynchronous deployment, which also have slight disturbances on the attitude angle and angular velocity of PhoneSat after the deployment. The initial disturbance angular velocity in the direction of deployment would be proportionally weakened after the deployment, whereas initial disturbance angular velocity in other direction induces angular velocities of other axes, which dramatically enhances the complexity of attitude control. Originality/value: The paper is a useful reference for engineering design of small satellites attitude control system.