Parameter Identification of Large Spacecraft Systems, Based on the Frequency Characteristics of the Hankel Operator

Abstract

The identification of the structural modes and damping factors of a spacecraft in orbit is accomplished. A systems approach was used to analyze the experiment and present identification techniques utilizing the frequency characteristics of the Hankel operator. Frequency domain error bounds and time domain error bounds are considered.The experiment was performed on a satellite in conjunction with the Naval Research Laboratory. The experiment utilized ground based laser illumination with doppler shifted returns and identified three of the lowest vibration modes.