A software simulator is developed for verifying the VLBI Correlation Subsystem (VCS) trial product hardware. This software simulator includes the delay tracking, fringe rotation, bit-jump, FFT analysis, re-quantization, and auto/cross-correlation functions so as to confirm the function of the VCS trial product hardware. To verify the effectiveness of the developed software simulator, we carried out experiments using the simulation data which is a mixed signal with white noise and tone signal generated by software. We confirmed that the performance of this software simulator is similar as that of the hardware system. In case of spectral analysis and re-quantization experiment, a serious problem of the VCS hardware, which is not enough for expressing the data stream of FFT results specified in VCS hardware specification, was found by this software simulator. Through the experiments, the performance of software simulator was verified to be efficient. In future, we will improve and modify the function of software simulator to be used as a software correlator of Korea-Japan Joint VLBI Correlator (KJJVC).
An integrated orbit and attitude control algorithm for satellite formation flying was developed, and an integrated orbit and attitude software-in-the-loop (SIL) simulator was also developed to test and verify the integrated control algorithm. The integrated algorithm includes state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) control algorithm and PD feedback control algorithm as orbit and attitude controller respectively and configures the two algorithms with an integrating effect. The integrated SIL simulator largely comprises an orbit SIL simulator for orbit determination and control, and attitude SIL simulator for attitude determination and control. The two SIL simulators were designed considering the performance and characteristics of related hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulators and were combined into the integrated SIL simulator. To verify the developed integrated SIL simulator with the integrated control algorithm, an orbit simulation and integrated orbit and attitude simulation were performed for a formation reconfiguration scenario using the orbit SIL simulator and the integrated SIL simulator, respectively. Then, the two simulation results were compared and analyzed with each other. As a result, the user satellite in both simulations achieved successful formation reconfiguration, and the results of the integrated simulation were closer to those of actual satellite than the orbit simulation. The integrated orbit and attitude control algorithm verified in this study enables us to perform more realistic orbit control for satellite formation flying. In addition, the integrated orbit and attitude SIL simulator is able to provide the environment of easy test and verification not only for the existing diverse orbit or attitude control algorithms but also for integrated orbit and attitude control algorithms.