{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T14:26:57Z","timestamp":1763389617427,"version":"3.45.0"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763337600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"nsfc","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52575012"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52575012"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005047","name":"Liaoning Provincial Natural Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2025-MS-084"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025-MS-084"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005047","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Youth Program of the Basic Research Plan, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences","award":["2023JC1K11"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023JC1K11"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Satellite hovering missions involve an active propulsion phase for precise maneuvering and a subsequent passive dynamics phase wherein the satellite responds to external forces, such as from a manipulator. Therefore, a ground-testing method capable of seamlessly integrating these operational regimes is required. This paper presents a novel methodology that leverages the symmetry between active wheel-driven control and passive air-bearing dynamics to establish a unified testing platform. A mathematical model is established for the dual independent steering-wheel drive system, and an error model for tracking both the translational (position) trajectory and the rotational (attitude) trajectory of the satellite during hovering is derived. Based on this, a Model Predictive Control (MPC) scheme is designed to generate optimal driving speeds and steering angles for the wheels, ensuring accurate trajectory tracking while explicitly adhering to their driving and steering constraints. Furthermore, our work involves the integrated design of a gravity-compensated platform and its steering wheels, incorporating design methods to enhance air-bearing safety and a seamless switching method to maintain test continuity by minimizing transient disturbances. Experiments demonstrate that this integrated platform delivers both high-precision satellite trajectory tracking and high-fidelity passive air-bearing micro-gravity simulation for the active and passive phases of a satellite hovering mission.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym17111990","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T14:04:07Z","timestamp":1763388247000},"page":"1990","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Leveraging the Symmetry Between Active Dual-Steering-Wheel MPC and Passive Air Bearing for Ground-Based Satellite Hovering Tests"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9495-2341","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiao","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Robotics and Systems, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China"},{"name":"Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China"}]},{"given":"Zhen","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace System Engineering Shanghai, Shanghai 201109, China"}]},{"given":"Zainan","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Robotics and Systems, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China"},{"name":"Song Jiang Laboratory, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China"}]},{"given":"Zhigang","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-4035-7332","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yonglin","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1457","DOI":"10.2514\/1.G008063","article-title":"Low-thrust optimal control of spacecraft hovering for proximity operations","volume":"47","author":"Zhao","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. 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