apogee-control-sim

Simulations for RIT Launch's prototype apogee control system.

A 2-DOF dynamic model simulates the rocket's dynamics and controller response.

Model Architecture

Simulink Subsystems represent model components, which Simulink Models assemble into test cases. Most model components are associated with a _params.m that retrieve the model's parameters in a particular configuration (a sensor can be "ideal" or a specific model number).

data/   - raw flight data
        - generated data files (lookup tables)

sim/    - simulation models and subsystems
        - helper functions to interact with models

test/   - uses files in sim/ and data/ to produce test results
        - everything that produces a plot for a report goes here

In general, to run a simulation,

1. Store the outputs of the required _params.m functions and initial conditions (manually or from an OpenRocket output timetable) in variables.
2. Use structs2inputs to assign the fields of these structures to a Simulink.SimulationInput (which can be an array, if any structure is an array of random samples).
3. Use sim (possibly with Fast Restart) to obtain outputs from inputs.

Many of the calculations require large amounts of simulations. To keep things reasonable, separate scripts run them and store the rseults in .mat files under data. To run default simulations---mainly controller_monte and controller_single---it is necessary to first run typical_variation and generate_luts.

Installation instructions

Required Products

1. Simulink
2. Aerospace Toolbox
3. Aerospace Blockset

Download project and dependencies

For this repository and each Git dependency, perform the following actions under a common folder:

1. Create an empty folder using the repository name: the word after RIT-Launch-Initiative.
2. In the top-left of the MATLAB toolbar, use New->Project->From Git to clone the repository.
3. Repository path: URL of the repository, without /tree/main (if present).
4. Sandbox: Path to the folder you made.

At the end of this, your directory structure should look something like

<Common_folder_name>/
  apogee-control-sim/ 
    Apogeecontrolsim.prj
    [...]
  lmatlib/
    Lmatlib.prj
    [...]

Open this project's .prj file and ensure it loads without errors or broken references.

Git dependencies

1. https://github.com/RIT-Launch-Initiative/lmatlib

Acknowledgements

The first prototype's control scheme is heavily inspired by that used by SAC-2024 Team 97 'ARES', in creating a LUT-based model-predictive controller using offline simulations. Thank you to UoM ARES for making their work publicly available.

The current simulations use the OpenRocket model for Jake Halpern's L2 'CRUD' as a base.