Abstract
Despite the recent advances in space technologies, electrical power systems are still challenging researchers developing small satellites for low earth orbit use. In order to supply their subsystems, these satellites can only use the power stored onboard from solar energy. Therefore, the electrical power system should ensure a maximum exploitation of energy sources and should optimize the distribution of the available electrical power. This paper introduces a new intelligent electrical power subsystem for pico satellites. It is based on fuzzy logic and hierarchical fuzzy logic algorithms allowing a faster energy storage and a better and efficient energy distribution. The developed subsystem is composed of three main blocks, which are the fuzzy maximum power point tracker, the power conditioner, and the hierarchical fuzzy subsystem controller. The intelligent electrical power subsystem was successfully integrated in ERPSat-1 pico satellite. Furthermore, the simulations and experimental data of the proposed system have shown better results compared to other architectures used for previous small satellite electrical power subsystems.