Dr Phil Palmer

Reader

Qualifications: PhD CEng FIET FRAS MAIAA

Email: p.palmer@surrey.ac.uk
Phone: Work: 01483 68 6024
Room no: BA U

Biography
Research
Publications
Teaching
Duties

Biography

Phil is a Reader in Astrodynamics at the Space Centre. His first degree was in Physics with Astrophysics at Leicester University and form there he went on to study Part III of the Mathematics Tripos at Cambridge University. He went on to successfully complete a PhD at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge on the origin of Cosmic Structure in the Universe. Phil was appointed Deputy Director of the Surrey Space Centre (2000-2005) and currently is head of the Astrodynamics team. He has established a research group in Spacecraft Autonomy in which he continues to support the research, and has also supported the development of the Space Propulsion group. He has interests in computer vision and its application for autonomous navigation of a robot and relative satellite motion. His interests within astrodynamics cover real time autonomous attitude and orbit maintenance, the development of fast numerical techniques such as symplectic methods, formation flying design and control and steering laws for control moment gyroscopes. Phil has close links with the Mathematics department at Surrey, where he joint supervises students working in the area of non-linear dynamics with applications to space. Currently he is working on solar sailing trajectories and tethered satellite systems.

Phil has published widely in the areas of Astronomy, Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition, Remote Sensing and Astronautics. He is a member of the AIAA and a fellow of the IET.

Research Interests

Phil specialises in the dynamics and control of spacecraft. He pursues a a wide range of interests developing mathematical techniques for real world problems. He currently is involved in a number of research projects that cover:

Autonomous orbit determination and estimation
Autonomous attitude determination and estimation
Symplectic techniques
Satellite Formation Flying in LEO
Proximity Operations in orbit
Vision based relative motion tracking and docking
Autonomy for Spacecraft Planning - ground and space segements
Ant colony optimisation
Solar Sail trajectories
Singularity avoidance in Comtrol Moment Gyroscopes

During his career he has worked extensively in dynamical Astronomy, modelling the interactions of colliding galaxies and investigating dynamical instabilities in models of galaxies. He has written a book on this topic titled "Stability of Collisionless Stellar Systems: Mechanisms for the Dynamical Structure of Galaxies", published by Kluwer. Phil has also worked in many other areas of Astronomy, including the formation of the planets in the Solar System and the dynamical interaction of a planetesimal disk with the formation of protoplanets.

As well as his interests in Astronomy, Phil has worked in the area of Computer Vision and the development of image processing methods which have been used for the active vision of a mobile robot. He led a team of researchers developing a vision based system for the exploration of unknown indoor environments.

Research Collaborations

Phil has research collaborations with the Mathematics department at Surrey, and through this collaboration has established an EU training network which is now in its second incarnation, called ASTRONET-II. The network brings together European researchers in Astrodynamics and a list of participants can be found at : http://www.ieec.cat/astronet2/portal/content/3/list-of-partners-and-researchers.htm

Phil has also been a leading academic supporter of SSTL, the Surrey Satellite Company, developing tools for the management of constellations of satellites such as the Disaster Monitoring Constellation and RapidEye.

Publications

Preprints of the Astrodynamics group can be found at SSC Blog

Journal articles

Kristiansen KU, Palmer PL, Roberts RM. (2012) 'Numerical modelling of elastic space tethers'. Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 113 (2), pp. 235-254.
doi: 10.1007/s10569-012-9411-5
Kristiansen KU, Vereshchagin M, Goździewski K, Palmer PL, Roberts RM. (2012) 'The two-body problem of a pseudo-rigid body and a rigid sphere'. Springer Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 112 (2), pp. 169-190.
doi: 10.1007/s10569-011-9390-y
Kristiansen KU, Palmer PL, Roberts RM. (2012) 'Numerical modelling of elastic space tethers'. Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, , pp. 1-20.
doi: 10.1007/s10569-012-9411-5
Gilani SAA, Palmer PL. (2012) 'Nonlinear Bayesian estimation based on mixture of Gram Charlier Series'. IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings,
doi: 10.1109/AERO.2012.6187203
Horri NM, Palmer P, Roberts M. (2011) 'Energy Optimal Spacecraft Attitude Control Subject To Convergence Rate Constraints'. Control Engineering Practice, 19 (11), pp. 1297-1314.
doi: 10.1016/j.conengprac.2011.07.002
Shang YH, Kristiansen KU, Palmer PL. (2011) 'Dynamic Systems Approach to the Lander Descent Problem'. AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT JOURNAL OF GUIDANCE CONTROL AND DYNAMICS, 34 (3), pp. 911-916.
doi: 10.2514/1.52964
Gilani SAA, Palmer PL. (2011) 'Analysis of fidelities of linearized orbital models using least squares'. IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings,
doi: 10.1109/AERO.2011.5747257
Shang Y, Palmer PL. (2011) 'Lunar lander's three-dimensional translation and yaw rotation motion estimation during a descent phase using optical navigation'. PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD ACTA ASTRONAUTICA, 68 (1-2), pp. 149-159.
doi: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2010.07.013
Wokes DS, Palmer PL. (2011) 'Heuristic pose estimation of a passive target using a global model'. Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 34 (1), pp. 293-299.
doi: 10.2514/1.51030
Wokes DS, Palmer PL. (2010) 'Perspective Reconstruction of a Spheroid from an Image Plane Ellipse'. SPRINGER INT J COMPUT VISION, 90 (3), pp. 369-379.
doi: 10.1007/s11263-010-0368-0
Kristiansen KU, Palmer PL, Roberts M. (2010) 'Relative motion of satellites exploiting the super-integrability of Kepler's problem'. Springer Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 106 (4), pp. 371-390.
doi: 10.1007/s10569-009-9253-y
Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/189429/

Abstract

This paper builds upon thework of Palmer and Imre exploring the relative motion of satellites on neighbouring Keplerian orbits.We make use of a general geometrical setting from Hamiltonian systems theory to obtain analytical solutions of the variational Kepler equations in an Earth centred inertial coordinate frame in terms of the relevant conserved quantities: relative energy, relative angular momentum and the relative eccentricity vector. The paper extends the work on relative satellite motion by providing solutions about any elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic reference trajectory, including the zero angular momentum case. The geometrical framework assists the design of complex formation flying trajectories. This is demonstrated by the construction of a tetrahedral formation, described through the relevant conserved quantities, for which the satellites are on highly eccentric orbits around the Sun to visit the Kuiper belt.
Wokes DS, Palmer PL. (2010) 'Perspective Reconstruction of a Spheroid from an Image Plane Ellipse'. International Journal of Computer Vision, , pp. 1-11.
doi: 10.1007/s11263-010-0368-0
Palmer PL, Tripp H. (2010) 'Stigmergy based Behvioural Coordination for Satellite Clusters'. Acta Astronautica, 66, pp. 1052-1071.
doi: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2009.09.017
Palmer PL, Horri N, Roberts M. (2010) 'Switched Inverse Optimal Attitude Control of Small Satellites'. IEEE Trans Aerospace Systems,
Palmer PL, Tripp H. (2010) 'Distribution replacement for improved genetic algorithm performance on a dynamic spacecraft autonomy problem'. J of Engineering Optimization, 42 (5), pp. 403-430.
doi: 10.1080/03052150903220956
Palmer PL, Halsall M. (2009) 'Designing Natural Formations of LEO Satellites'. AIAA J Guidance, Control & Dynamics, 32 (3), pp. 860-868.
doi: 10.2514/1.39631
Valpiani JA, Palmer PL. (2008) 'Nonlinear geometric estimation for satellite attitude'. AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT JOURNAL OF GUIDANCE CONTROL AND DYNAMICS, 31 (4), pp. 835-848.
doi: 10.2514/1.32715
Palmer PL, Henshall P. (2008) 'A Leapfrog Algorithm for Coupled Conductive and Radiative Transient Heat Transfer in Participating Media'. Int. Journal of Thermal Sciences, 47 (4), pp. 388-398.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2007.03.008
Palmer PL, Wokes D, Roberts M. (2008) 'Classification of 2D fixed Sun angle Solar Sail Trajectories'. AIAA J Guidance, Control & Dynamics, 31 (5), pp. 1249-1258.
doi: 10.2514/1.47560
Halsall M, Palmer PL. (2007) 'Modelling natural formations of LEO satellites'. SPRINGER CELESTIAL MECHANICS & DYNAMICAL ASTRONOMY, 99 (2), pp. 105-127.
doi: 10.1007/s10569-007-9084-7
Richie DJ, Lappas VJ, Palmer PL. (2007) 'Sizing/optimization of a small satellite energy storage and attitude control system'. AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT JOURNAL OF SPACECRAFT AND ROCKETS, 44 (4), pp. 940-952.
doi: 10.2514/1.25134
Imre E, Palmer PL. (2007) 'High-precision, symplectic numerical, relative orbit propagation'. AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT JOURNAL OF GUIDANCE CONTROL AND DYNAMICS, 30 (4), pp. 965-973.
doi: 10.2514/1.26846
Palmer PL, Imre E. (2007) 'Relative motion between satellites on neighboring Keplerian orbits'. AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT JOURNAL OF GUIDANCE CONTROL AND DYNAMICS, 30 (2), pp. 521-528.
doi: 10.2514/1.24804
Palmer PL. (2007) 'Reachability and Optimal Phasing for Reconfiguration in near Circular Orbit Formations'. AIAA J Guidance, Control & Dynamics, 30 (5), pp. 1542-1546.
Palmer PL, Halsall M. (2007) 'Modelling Natural Formations of LEO Satellites'. J Celestial Mechanics & Dynamical Astronomy, 99, pp. 105-127.
Palmer PL, Aorpimai M. (2007) 'Repeat-Groundtrack Orbit Acquisition and Maintenance for Earth-Observation Satellites''. AIAA J. Guidance, Control & Dynamics, 30 (3), pp. 654-659.
Valpiani JM, Palmer PL. (2006) 'Nonlinear symplectic attitude estimation for small satellites'. Collection of Technical Papers - AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, 2006, 1, pp. 306-321.
Barley S, Palmer PL, Coxhill I. (2006) 'Evaluating the miniaturisation of a monopropellant thruster'. Collection of Technical Papers - AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE 42nd Joint Propulsion Conference, 3, pp. 2419-2433.
O'Donnell KA, Palmer PL. (2006) 'Resonant orbit locations about celestial bodies'. BRITISH INTERPLANETARY SOC JBIS-JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH INTERPLANETARY SOCIETY, 59 (1), pp. 15-22.
Halsall M, Palmer PL. (2006) 'An analytic relative orbit model incorporating J'. Collection of Technical Papers - AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, 2006, 3, pp. 2109-2120.
Palmer PL. (2006) 'Optimal Relocation of Satellites Flying in near Circular Orbit Formations'. AIAA J Guidance, Control & Dynamics, 29 (3), pp. 519-526.
Valpiani JM, Palmer PL. (2006) 'Symplectic attitude estimation for small satellites'. Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, 124 I, pp. 213-230.
Bamber DC, Palmer PL, Mackin S. (2006) 'Attitude determination through image registration model and test-case for novel attitude system in low earth orbit'. Collection of Technical Papers - AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, 2006, 1, pp. 270-283.

Conference papers

Bridges CP, Palmer P. (2011) 'Demonstrating Visual Inspection of Solar Sail Surfaces'. European Space Agency http://www.congrex.nl/11a01/, Carlsbad, Czech Republic: 8th International ESA Conference on Guidance and Navigation Control Systems (GNC 2011)
Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/26826/
Palmer PL, Gebbie J, Pollard M, Kadhem H, Boland L, Curiel A, Davies P, Steyn J, Tye G. (2010) 'Spacecraft Constellation Deployment for the RapidEye Earth Observation System'. Daejeon, Korea: 61st International Astronautical Congress (IAC-09-B4.3.11)
Palmer PL, Horri N, Roberts M. (2010) 'Practical Implementation of Inverse Optimal Satellite Attitude Control Techniques'.
Palmer PL, Horri N, Roberts M. (2010) 'Design and Validation of Geometric Optimisation Software for the Attitude Control of Microsatellites'. Prague: 61st International Astronautical Congress (IAC-10.C1.4.2)
Palmer PL, Mumtaz R. (2010) 'Extracting Attitude Knowledge from the Offsets in Earth Observational Imagery'. Toulouse, France: 21st Int. Symposium on Spaceflight Dynamics
Palmer PL, Shang Y. (2010) 'The Dynamic Motion Estimation of a Lunar Lander using Optical Navigation'. Toulouse, France: 21st Int. Symposium on Spaceflight Dynamics
Palmer PL, Mumtaz R. (2010) 'Attitude determination through Registration of Satellite Imagery'. 1st Conf on Space Technology
Shang Y, Palmer PL. (2009) 'Lunar lander's three-dimensional translation and yaw rotation motion estimation during a descent phase using optical navigation'. 60th International Astronautical Congress, Daejeon, South Korea: IAC 2009 6, pp. 4845-4856.
Palmer PL, Shang Y. (2009) 'Lunar Lander’s Dynamic MotionEstimation using Optical navigation'. Thessaloniki, Greece: 1st Conf on Space Technology
Palmer PL, Smail S, Wokes D, Underwood C. (2009) 'Autonomous Pose Estimation for In-Orbit Self Assembly of Intelligent Self-Powered Modules'. Chicago, USA: AIAA Conf of Guidance, Navigation & Control
Palmer PL, Wokes D, Smail S, Underwood C. (2009) 'Pose Estimation for In-Orbit Self-Assembly of Intelligent Self-Powered Modules'. Chicago, USA: AIAA Conf of Guidance, Navigation & Control
Palmer PL, Horri N, Roberts R. (2009) 'Optimal Spacecraft Attitude Control with Convergence Rate Constraints'. Thessaloniki, Greece: 1st Conf on Space Technology
Palmer PL, Horri N, Roberts M. (2009) 'Optimal Satellite Attitude Control with Low Implementation Complexity'. Berlin, Germany: 7th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation
Horri NM, Palmer PL, Roberts M. (2009) 'Inverse optimal satellite attitude control from a geometric viewpoint'. Proceedings of the 11th IASTED International Conference on Control and Applications, CA 2009, , pp. 68-74.
Horri NM, Palmer PL, Roberts MR. (2009) 'Optimal Satellite Attitude Control: a Geometric Approach'. IEEE 2009 IEEE AEROSPACE CONFERENCE, VOLS 1-7, Big Sky, MT: 2009 IEEE Aerospace Conference, pp. 2339-2349.
Palmer PL, Asghar S, Giffen A, Roberts M. (2008) 'Spacecraft attitude control by momentum exchange'. Porto, Spain: 2nd Conf on Nonlinear Science & Complexity
Palmer PL, Tripp H. (2008) 'Distributed Behavioural Coordination for Satellite Clusters'. Glasgow, UK: 59th Int Astronautical Congress
Palmer PL, Mumtaz R. (2008) 'Attitude Determination through Image Registration'. Glasgow, UK: 59th Int Astronautical Congress
Palmer PL, Noel J. (2008) 'Near real-time Event Detection and Prediction'. Las Vegas: Int Conf Genetics and Evolutionary Methods
Wokes DS, Palmer PL. (2008) 'Autonomous pose determination of a passive target through spheroid modelling'. Honolulu, Hawaii: AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference and Exhibit
Palmer PL, Tripp H. (2007) 'Distributed Replacement: How Survival of the Worst can Outperform Survival of the Fittest'. London, UK: Proc of 9th Conf on Genetic & Evolutionary Computation
Aorpimai A, Palmer PL. (2007) 'Repeat-ground,track orbit acquisition and maintenance for earth-observation satellites'. AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT JOURNAL OF GUIDANCE CONTROL AND DYNAMICS, Maui, HI: AAS/AIAA 14th Space Flight Mechanics Meeting 30 (3), pp. 654-659.
doi: 10.2514/1.23413
Palmer PL, Bamber D, Mackin S. (2006) 'Cloud detection and Height Estimation through Registration of Disaster Monitoring Constellation Imagery'. Proc SPIE Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XI
Palmer PL, Chen W, Mackin S. (2006) 'Theory Applications in Imaging Service Analysis for Small Earth Observation Satellite'. Valencia, Spain: 57th Int Astronautical Congress
O'Donnell K, Palmer PL. (2006) 'Absolute and relative orbit analysis for resonant satellite motion'. AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT JOURNAL OF GUIDANCE CONTROL AND DYNAMICS, Lake Tahoe, CA: AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference 29 (5), pp. 1159-1169.
doi: 10.2514/1.19639
Palmer PL, Bamber D, Mackin S. (2006) 'High Performance Attitude Determination through Analysis of Geometric Distortions with EO Satellite Imagery'. Logan, Utah: AIAA/USU Small Satellite Conf
Palmer PL, Bamber D, Mackin S. (2006) 'Attitude Determination Through Image Registration'. Keystone, Colordao: Astrodynamics Specialist Conference
Palmer PL, Chen W, Mackin S. (2006) 'Performance Modelling of Imaging Service of Earth Observation Satellites with Two-dimensional Markov Chain'. Logan, Utah: AIAA/USU Utah Small Satellite Conf
Palmer PL, Henshall P. (2006) 'Solar Thermal Propulsion Augmented with Fibre Optics: Technology Development'. CA, USA: 42nd Joint Propulsion Conference
O'Donnell K, Palmer PL, Williams BG, DAmario LA, Howell KC, Hoots FR. (2006) 'Epicyclic description of resonant satellite motion: Absolute and relative orbit analysis.'. UNIVELT INC Astrodynamics 2005, Vol 123, Pts 1-3, Lake Tahoe, CA: AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference 123, pp. 1667-1686.
Asghar S, Roberts M, Palmer PL. (2006) 'An exact steering law for twin control moment Gyro systems'. European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP, (606), pp. 407-414.
Asghar S, Roberts M, Palmer PL. (2006) 'Exact steering law for pyramid-type four control moment gyro systems'. Collection of Technical Papers - AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, 2006, 2, pp. 1439-1448.
Imre E, Palmer PL, Williams BG, DAmario LA, Howell KC, Hoots FR. (2006) 'A numerical approach to high precision relative orbit propagation'. UNIVELT INC Astrodynamics 2005, Vol 123, Pts 1-3, Lake Tahoe, CA: AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference 123, pp. 771-788.

Book chapters

Horri NM, Palmer P, Giffen A. (2010) 'Active Attitude Control Mechanisms'. in Blockley R, Shyy W (eds.) Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, 9 Volume Set Wiley 5 Article number Part 26:265

Teaching

Phil teaches Dynamics & Control of Spacecraft to Physics, Aerospace Engineers and Electrical Engineers. He teaches General Relativity & Cosmology to Physics students.

Departmental Duties

Phil is the Chief Examination Officer for the EE department.