Smart Aerospace | Visualization of Digital Twin Cargo Spacecraft Operation

At 9:22 on June 17, 2021, Beijing time, the Long March 2 F Yao 12 carrier rocket carrying the Shenzhou 12 manned spacecraft was ignited and launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. At 18:28 on the 17th, astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo entered the Tianhe core module one after another, marking the first time the Chinese entered their own space station.

Foreword

Today, Hightopo's product HT will be used to build a digital twin management system for the "Tianzhou-1" cargo spacecraft. HT three-dimensional simulation technology can visually display the operation status of key management objects such as the main body of the spacecraft, carrying information, flight tests, technical experiments, and operation history in multiple dimensions, and supports the visual monitoring of the situation in the entire space. Smart aerospace is an application platform based on big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence technology. Its emergence can extract effective information from massive data more quickly and provide strong support for smart decision-making.

Animation display

The earth is displayed in a three-dimensional form with matching geographic environment maps for three-dimensional virtual simulation display, and the location of each country is distinguished by the color of the highlighted part. At the same time, HT has the function of converting BIM models to HT primitives, which can do lightweight processing for BIM files to ensure that scenes are loaded and run efficiently and smoothly on the Web.

Simulate spaceship operation

The interface is constructed by 3D lightweight scene with 2D data panel and animation driver, as shown in the figure is the complete interface display:

Selecting a 3D visualization monitoring platform can present a three-dimensional and comprehensive real-time picture of spacecraft operation, and support real-time data collection by docking spacecraft sensors, assisting monitoring personnel to quickly judge the spacecraft operation status, health status, and early warning information through the data. Ensure that the spacecraft's trajectory is always in a stable state, and optimize the traditional operation procedures in the past.

data full display

For the complex and cumbersome aerospace data, if you want ultra-precision, high-efficiency, and large-scale processing and analysis of data, you need to analyze and judge the spacecraft's propellant, carrier, etc. through multi-source data such as time, space, and classification. Flight test, technical test and other status information, and quickly locate problems based on early warning and warning prompts.

At the same time, the interface can be equipped with a timeline running process, historical review and simulation exercises, click on the time node to play the animation of the corresponding process separately.

windsurfing deployment visualization

Tianzhou (including Tianzhou-1 and Tianzhou-2) cargo spacecraft consists of a large-diameter cargo cabin and a small-diameter propulsion cabin. The cargo compartment is used to load cargo, and the propulsion compartment provides power and electricity for the entire spacecraft. There are three solar panels on both sides of the propulsion cabin, and the 3D visualization control is demonstrated as follows:

self-directed

Tianzhou-1 needs manual assistance to guide the spacecraft to a certain distance from Tiangong-2 in the long-distance segment, and then the spacecraft autonomously completes the close-range rendezvous and docking.

Before and after each orbit change, the ground measurement and control station must first accurately measure the orbit of the spacecraft and the space laboratory, control their current and future positions, and then give orders to the spacecraft. In this way, the spacecraft must be strictly controlled within the predetermined range at every step, so as to ensure the normal implementation of the spacecraft's autonomous guidance.

Autonomous docking visualization

It is understood that space rendezvous and docking is one of the three basic technologies for manned space activities. It is a prerequisite for the realization of on-orbit services such as the assembly, replenishment, maintenance, recovery, astronaut exchange, and rescue of space stations and space transportation systems. However, the movement process of the spacecraft is unpredictable, and its flight speed can reach 8 Km/s. To ensure the smooth progress of the spacecraft’s autonomous docking, ground monitoring personnel must obtain the actual flight status from the data as soon as possible, and the spacecraft transmits back data every second. The original data is as much as 8G, and the efficiency will be greatly reduced by relying solely on manual resolution.

Data visualization can streamline and refine messy intelligence data, and combine it with professional data models and analysis algorithms in the aerospace field for real-time analysis and judgment. Helping to obtain higher value of data will help to enhance the decision-making and judgment ability of monitors, and improve the efficiency of data analysis to a certain extent.

The completion of the rendezvous and docking of the spacecraft mainly relies on ground measurement and control. The orbital parameters generated by the monitoring personnel on the ground inject instructions, such as the spacecraft engine startup and the length of the point. The monitoring personnel can still analyze and judge based on the real-time data presented on the large-screen data visualization. decision making.

fuel supply visualization

Switching to a visual effect, the monitoring personnel can intuitively observe the fuel supply status in the cabin, and present information such as the spacecraft and propellant reserves.

Software Aerospace Series

Not long ago, the "Zhurong" rover had safely left the landing platform, reached the surface of Mars, and began to patrol and explore. "Zhurong" is my country's first Mars rover designed by ourselves, which is of great significance to the development of my country's aerospace industry. The following is the rover detection scene built by Hightopo using HT.

Real-time display of various received monitoring data, the entire detection process and other necessary status information through the three-dimensional visualization platform. In addition to traditional manual modeling, HT supports the display function of BIM models, and lightweight processing of BIM models with structure, engineering and other information to ensure efficient and smooth loading and running of scenes on the Web.

The application of HT visualization technology realizes data sharing, and gradually realizes the digitization, greenness and intelligence of the industry. Whether it’s spacecraft operation, rocket launch, solar system operation, or Mars rover, you can control and understand its status, relative position, quality, resource content, etc. in real time through the 3D visualization interface. At the time when the space exploration capabilities are becoming more robust, even The system can be used for real-time monitoring and presentation of planetary status, and online monitoring of astronauts' working points and working conditions.

For the aerospace industry, data is not only the foundation of aerospace theory, but also the cornerstone of aerospace practice. A series of operations in Smart Aerospace can be achieved through the lightweight Hightopo 3D visualization scene, which moves the entire universe into PC, iPad, and mobile terminals for cross-platform display. The scene supports conventional rotation, translation, and viewing angle zoom.

summary

Carved a new height of China in the vast space. Searching for thousands of years, dreaming of the vast starry sky, from ancient myths and legends of Chang'e flying to the moon, to Qu Yuan's "Heavenly Questions", which wanted to explore "the principles of heaven and earth", the curiosity and questioning of the mysterious space by the ancient Chinese people have repeated in Chinese astronauts. Become a reality in an exploration. Tupu is willing to assist aerospace researchers to make contributions to the aerospace industry and jointly write a new chapter in the aerospace industry.

Hightopo data visualization also deeply integrates various industries such as manufacturing, wind power energy, urban parks, etc., to promote smart manufacturing and digital transformation, so that industrial operation and maintenance can be traced, equipment operation can be monitored, and everything can be information interoperability, resource sharing, Ability synergy.