Configurable Drive Scheme for Stepper Motors in Space Application

Motors are employed in satellites for various operations. Control drives for these motors are achieved with custom designs, which are specific to the application, motors used, load to be driven and the drive schemes chosen. Instead of using a custom specific design, a common platform for drive electronics will help to circumvent development hassles and shorten the realisation time. This article discusses the requirements/applications of stepper motors in a spacecraft and a configurable architecture as a standard design for the open loop drive of stepper motors. A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based digital controller is designed to provide all the configurable features, through programmability and tele-command. To ensure a fail-safe system, safety logics are built-in to the controller and health monitoring is provided through a telemetry interface. Also, usage of space grade FPGAs and other qualified parts ensure a reliable system architecture for a radiation hardened environment. The proposed drive scheme accomplishes the need for a configurable and reliable design, best suited for motor drive electronics, for the open loop drive of stepper motors in a spacecraft.