Path planning for space manipulators using enhanced disturbance map

The motions of the space manipulators cause dynamic disturbances to the spacecraft attitude. This paper proposes a method for planning the manipulator path that reduces such dynamic disturbances using the Enhanced Disturbance Map approach. The Disturbance Map shows the direction of joint movements in the joint space that causes zero disturbance to the spacecraft attitude as well as the magnitude of the maximum disturbance. The proposed method designs small steps of joint movements in the joint space considering hvo directions. One is the direction to realize the desired terminal joint angles and the other is to reduce the disturbances to the spacecraft attitude. The total direction of the joint movement is determined at each step depending both on the magnitude of the disturbances caused by the joint movements and on the distance from the goal. Results of numerical simulations are given for a free-flying robot having a two-link manipulator.