Onboard Semianalytic Approach to Collision-Free Formation Reconfiguration

Allowing satellite formations the flexibility to perform path planning operations onboard each spacecraft can significantly reduce the ground operations burden and increase the responsiveness of the formation to reconfiguration events. This paper develops a semianalytic approach to rapid onboard, fuel-minimized, collision-free path generation for satellites in a formation. A sequential optimization approach to collision avoidance is examined. Through hardware testing and comparison with other approaches, this analytic method shows viability for onboard, fuel-minimized, collision-free path generation.