Basilisk Release Notes

Note

We are very excited by the great capabilities that this software already has, and plan to be updating this software regularly. There is some documentation in terms of Sphinx generated HTML documentation, but also documentation within the code, and several Basilisk modules that are math heavy have LaTeX’d documentation folders as well. Best place to start is to run the integrated tutorial scripts inside the basilisk/examples folder, described in Integrated Example Scripts. To learn how to use and program Basilisk, see Learning Basilisk.

Danger

This next generation of Basilisk 2.0+ introduces a new messaging system and file architecture. As a result using BSK2 requires upgrading existing Basilisk 1.x simulation scripts (see Migrating Basilisk Scripts from Version 1.X to 2.X) and C/C++ modules (see Migrating Basilisk Modules from Version 1.X to 2.X) to be used with 2.x and onwards. All unit test and example scenario scripts are updated and form a good source for examples on how to use the new software framework.

Version 2.5.23

  • Build ubuntu-latest wheels for Python 3.9, 3.10, and 3.11 on GitHub CI, allowing for other CI systems to use these wheels for testing with Basilisk as a dependency.

  • updated README file. Links now point to local documentation instead of to the pages on the AVS lab web page that used to host the documentation.

  • Updated scenarioBasicOrbitStream to add the ability to pause and resume the live BSK stream

  • Added documenation on installing with pip via source code in Advanced: (Beta) Building and Installing Pre-Compiled Basilisk Wheels

  • Updated scenarioOrbitManeuver to include a SPICE module that rotates the Earth

  • Changed the way polyhedron gravity is computed to be more computationally efficient

  • Updated Module: vizInterface to flush the output buffer when saving binary files to avoid truncation

  • Updated Integrated Example Scripts to better include folders of scenario tutorial scripts

  • Updated documentation build to use latest version of sphinx and sphinx_rtd_theme. Updated the install documenation and optional package requirements.

  • Updated MonteCarloExamples directory with a bokeh plotting feature robust to large Monte Carlo datasets

  • Updated scenarioVisualizeMonteCarlo to autogenerate live bokeh plots in Sphinx documentation

  • Updated scenarioMonteCarloAttRW to include the new useBokeh feature in the run() method

  • Updated scenarioMonteCarloAttRW to use more pythonic OOP for Monte Carlo data retention

  • Updated scenarioMonteCarloSpice to use more pythonic OOP for Monte Carlo data retention

  • Decreased the Basilisk wheel size by keeping large data files out of the wheel.

  • The wheel installs the local command tool bskLargeData to execute bskLargeData. The purpose is to install the large Basilisk data files into the local Basilisk python package.

  • The wheel installs the local command tool bskExamples to execute bskExamples. This tool downloads the Basilisk repo examples folder into the local folder

  • Removed the now deprecated datashader_utilities.py in favor of the new bokeh plotting features in AnalysisBaseClass.py

  • Upgraded protoc compiler to v3.20.0, added protobuf to optional package install list

  • Created unit tests for protobuffer packing and saving in Module: vizInterface

  • Added YouTube video links of Vizard illustrating the scenarioFlexiblePanel and scenarioRoboticArm scenarios.

  • Fixed issue in which reading RWModel from RW message payloads when Module: vizInterface was also imported would return a Swig Object instead of an enumerated integer.

  • Refactored the GaussMarkov class to enforce walk bounds and remove the need for the 1.5x noise multiplier. Note: Existing code that used this multiplier will need to be updated to maintain the same behavior.

  • Removed the deprecated 1.5x multiplier in Module: magnetometer and Module: coarseSunSensor when setting ‘senNoiseStd’

  • Updated starTracker unit tests to properly convert EP’s to rotation vector now that random walk exists

  • Added scenarioGaussMarkovRandomWalk to showcase GaussMarkov class functionality

  • Added unit test coverage for GaussMarkov implementation in Module: tempMeasurement, Module: simpleNav and Module: planetNav.

  • Fixed SWIG array handling for message payloads on macOS, particularly addressing issues with uint8_t arrays and other array types in message payloads. This resolves compatibility issues between SWIG’s array typemaps and builds.

  • A bug was fixed in the Module: facetSRPDynamicEffector module. A transpose was required to be added to a dcm in order to correctly express rotated facet normals in the spacecraft body frame.

  • The Module: facetSRPDynamicEffector module was refactored and setters and getters were added for the module variables numFacets and numArticulatedFacets. A deprecation warning is added to the module documentation stating that these variables will be moved to private module variables in Dec 2025. To access these variables the added setters and getters must be used.

  • Fixed a bug in which the MtbEffector.py module was not being imported correctly in Python due to lack of swig_eigen.i include file in MtbEffector.i.

  • Cleaned up what python packages are required to build BSK (requirements_dev.txt), to run BSK (requirements.txt) and to build BSK documentation (requirements_doc.txt).

  • The BSK install instructions are updated to ask users to install by first pip installing build required packages through requirements_dev.txt.

  • Update the build process to use conan version 2.x

    Warning

    You have to upgrade your python conan package to be able to build Basilisk. Use python install --upgrade conan.

  • Added support for subclassing StateData and overloading certain methods. This enables support for custom state behavior, such as quaternions, which have size 4 but their derivative is size 3. This is done in preparation of a future MuJoCo integration. Note the warning below regarding SWIG files for dynamicEffector and stateEffector.

    Warning

    SWIG files for subclasses of dynamicEffector and stateEffector must now %include "simulation/dynamics/_GeneralModuleFiles/dynParamManager.i" instead of %include "simulation/dynamics/_GeneralModuleFiles/dynParamManager.h". See src/simulation/dynamics/dragEffector/dragDynamicEffector.i for an example.

Version 2.5.0 (Sept. 30, 2024)

  • Added swirl torque information to THRConfigMsgPayload, Module: thrustCMEstimation, and Module: thrusterPlatformState

  • Updated required version of setuptools to avoid installation error (“invalid command bdist_wheel”) on some environments.

  • Made the initial Basilisk build more robust in case de430.bsp download was interrupted

  • Enhanced Module: thrusterDynamicEffector to allow automatic scaling down of thrust and Isp as fuel mass depletes.

  • Fixed issue with Module: vizInterface not being able to save to file

  • Fixed issue with Module: vizInterface not saving off Vizard protobuffer message on first time step

  • Created an input device status message to toggle the Module: constraintDynamicEffector dynamics module on/off.

  • Created an output message to record constraint forces and torques acting on separate spacecraft connected using a Module: constraintDynamicEffector dynamics module.

  • Added in a low-pass filter to filter the output forces and torques of the Module: constraintDynamicEffector dynamics module.

  • Removed deprecated way to log Basilisk module variables

  • Removed deprecated way to create C-wrapped Basilisk modules

  • Corrected Equations (11) and (12) in the Module: celestialTwoBodyPoint PDF documentation

  • Expanded the GitHub CI tests to run scenario script tests

  • Untangled ClassicElementsMsgPayload which was used both as a message payload definition and as a data structure inside modules. The use of classicElements() is now depreciated for the use of ClassicElements() defined in orbitalMotion.

  • Added packaging>=22 dependency for installing Basilisk to solve an incompatibility issue with setuptools.

  • Added support for macOS to the CI test builds, including opNav for all three platforms

  • Added CI support to test Linux on latest Ubuntu with opNav

  • Added CI support to build and test Basilisk documentation on the GitHub macOS platform

  • Added new scenario scenarioOrbitManeuverTH to do Hohmann transfer using thrusters

  • Refactored pyswice_ck_utilities utility file, added unit test

  • Made sure that astroFunctions and simIncludeGravBody now all pull from the same set of astronautical data in astroConstants. These tools now all use a consisten set of planet data referenced from NASA sources.

  • Updated simIncludeRW to allow values of fCoulomb, fStatic and cViscous to be specified even if a prebuilt RW data set is used.

  • If messaging was not imported then the msg recorder() modules couldn’t be setup. Now messaging is imported as part of the Basilisk package so the recorder() modules always work.

  • Added the ability for GitHub to rebuild the BSK documentation each time a branch is merged back into develop. This way the online documentation for develop is up to date for each contribution, not just for the hand-built documentation we did with major tagged releases. The new Basilisk online documentation list is now https://avslab.github.io/basilisk.

  • Small updates to the Cmake build process to remove unneeded policies and python 3 swig overwriting scripts

  • Added a Lambert’s problem based FSW package to compute the DV maneuver required to get to a desired location at a desired time. At that location, another maneuver may be performed to match the surface velocity of a celestial body. This FSW package consists of the modules Module: lambertSolver to solve Lambert’s problem, Module: lambertPlanner to set up and define the Lambert problem, Module: lambertValidator to check if the solution from the Module: lambertSolver module violates any constraints before a Delta-V is commanded, Module: lambertSurfaceRelativeVelocity to compute the inertial velocity required to match the surface velocity of the central body, and Module: lambertSecondDV to compute the DV maneuver required to match the surface velocity.

  • Added scenarioLambertSolver scenario to illustrate the Lambert’s problem FSW module package

  • Added scenario_LambertGuidance BSK-Sim scenario to illustrate the Lambert modules in different flight modes

  • Added new scenario scenarioSweepingSpacecraft to perform sweeping maneuvers.

  • Added a new \(N\)-axis translating effector Module: linearTranslationNDOFStateEffector and a corresponding scenario scenarioExtendingBoom.

Version 2.4.0 (August 23, 2024)

  • Added a new example scenario scenarioConstrainedDynamics demonstrating post-docked spacecraft dynamics

  • Created a Module: constraintDynamicEffector dynamics module to couple separate spacecraft motion using holonomic constraints.

  • Removed the depreciated manner of creating python modules

  • Created a new example scenario scenarioTempMeasurementAttitude demonstrating the use of tempMeasurement module and generating random noise in the measurement.

  • Uncaught exceptions raised in Python modules are now printed to stderr before the program is terminated.

  • Updated Basilisk and Vizard logos and provided download links

  • Updated News and Discussions menu tab to be External Links to Basilisk related web sites

  • Added a new N-axis spinning effector Module: spinningBodyNDOFStateEffector. This is an expansion of Module: spinningBodyOneDOFStateEffector and Module: spinningBodyTwoDOFStateEffector to any number of degrees of freedom.

  • Update the Windows build to automatically include the Math library defines. This avoids having to include them in BSK source code files individually.

  • Added support for arrays and 2D arrays of 16 and 64 bit integers in message definitions

  • Fixed bug where 2D arrays of 32 bit integers would have elements of type float in python.

  • Fixed the Identity() method in avsEigenMRP library.

  • Fixed the SpiceInterface::initTimeData() method to write epoch strings with microsecond precision instead of 0.1 second precision to prevent SPICE errors when epochs ending with seconds higher than 59.95 seconds got rounded up to 60.0 seconds

  • Update Module: dynamicEffector and Module: stateEffector classes to be able to pull the state engine names of the spacecraft hub object

  • The fuel tank module is refactored to remove the limitation of a only being able to have a single instance of a specific tank model type.

  • Update Basilisk documentation build system to use latest version of sphinx and sphinx_rtd_theme

  • Added time tag to CSSArraySensorMsgPayload

  • updated Eigen library to 3.4.0

  • updated OpenCV library to 4.5.5

  • Added support for Vizard 2.2.0

  • Added documentation on using pre-commit formatters and clang formating

  • Added two new scenarios that use the Module: spinningBodyNDOFStateEffector module. scenarioRoboticArm simulates a robotic arm that changes orientation through the use of the Module: prescribedRotation1DOF profiler module. scenarioFlexiblePanel simulates a flexible panel that has torsional and bending modes, which are approximated though a lumped-mass approach and discretized to as many subpanels as needed.

  • Fixed protectAllClasses method in Basilisk.architecture.swig_common_model so that it actually protects the classes in the given module (prevents code from setting unknown attributes). This might impact user code that depended on adding additional attributes to python classes generated by SWIG.

  • Updated install instructions to specify python version 3.8 to 3.11 are required. Python 3.12 does yet work.

  • Updated Setting and Recording Module Variables to discuss how to log private C++ module variables that have a getter method

  • Updated Module: cppModuleTemplate to make user configurable variables private, accessed via setter and getter methods

  • Updated makeDraftModule to make C++ modules with private module variables using setter/getter methods

  • Updated Module Header File to discuss the new expectation that C++ modules are all private. This enables graceful module variable depreciation if needed.

  • Added support for numpy 2.0.

  • Fixed use of spherical coordinate system in Module: magneticFieldWMM model.

  • Added ability to run the GitHub pull_request.yml action on a select branch

  • Fixed mass depletion rate bug in Module: thrusterStateEffector previously fixed at 100%

  • Enhanced Module: solarArrayReference with a mode that can compute the reference for the solar arrays that maximizes SRP torque opposed to current RW net momentum.

  • (Beta) Added PEP-517-compliant project specification, providing initial support for installation via pip install ..

    • NOTE: This is primarily intended to support pre-compiled releases in the future. All users are recommended to continue using python conanfile.py installation for now.

  • The cmake command now downloads large Spice data files automatically from the JPL server.

  • Updated Conan/CMake build system to avoid unnecessary recompilations and greatly speed up rebuilds.

Version 2.3.0 (April 5, 2024)

  • Added optional facet articulation to the Module: facetSRPDynamicEffector module.

  • Fixed a bug where the legacy variable logging API would either, not log at all or log at a rate different to the requested rate.

  • Fixed a python version checking bug that prevented Basilisk from compiling on Windows

  • Created a new example scenario scenarioHaloOrbit demonstrating a near-Halo orbit simulation

  • Updated versioning to better follow the semantic versioning standard, in the format MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH. Releases will increment the minor version number, while pull requests into develop will automatically increment the patch number. This allows users to reference/require specific versions of Basilisk outside of the release cycle. Online documentation is only built for the MAJOR.MINOR.0 releases

  • updated plotting of opNav example scenarios to work again with latest version of matplotlib

  • fixed a slew of compiler warnings when compiling with Xcode 15

  • Refactored the PrescribedTransMsgPayload message by renaming the message to LinearTranslationRigidBodyMsgPayload and renaming the message variables from scalarPos and scalarVel to rho and rhoDot

  • Deprecated the PrescribedMotionMsgPayload message and replaced with two separate PrescribedTranslationMsgPayload and PrescribedRotationMsgPayload messages.

  • added support for the new swig 4.2 version

  • updated the Windows build to compile properly with opNav flag set to true. A opencv related flag had to be updated.

  • added supoport for Vizard 2.1.6

  • Created a Module: prescribedLinearTranslation dynamics module to profile prescribed linear translation for a secondary rigid body connected to the spacecraft hub. This new module deprecates the prescribedTrans module. To simulate the translation, this module must be connected to the Module: prescribedMotionStateEffector dynamics module.

  • Created a Module: prescribedRotation1DOF dynamics module to profile a prescribed 1 DOF rotation for a secondary rigid body connected to the spacecraft hub. This new module deprecates the prescribedRot1DOF fsw module. To simulate the rotation, this module must be connected to the Module: prescribedMotionStateEffector dynamics module.

  • Created a new example scenario scenarioDeployingSolarArrays demonstrating how to simulate hub-relative multi-body prescribed motion.

  • Added support for Vizard 2.1.6.1

  • Updated Module: MtbEffector to include missing swig interface file for a message definition and corrected message table in the module documentation.

  • Added smoothed bang-bang and smoothed bang-coast-bang profiler options to the Module: prescribedLinearTranslation simulation module. Note that the optional module variable coastOptionRampDuration has been renamed to coastOptionBangDuration. The setter and getter methods for this variable are renamed to reflect this change as setCoastOptionBangDuration() and getCoastOptionBangDuration(), respectively. See the module documentation for the current usage of this parameter and these associated methods.

  • Added a new commanded linear force array LinearTranslationRigidBodyMsgPayload.

  • Added a new single-axis translating effector Module: linearTranslationOneDOFStateEffector.

  • Added smoothed bang-bang and smoothed bang-coast-bang profiler options to the Module: prescribedRotation1DOF simulation module. Note that the optional module variable coastOptionRampDuration has been renamed to coastOptionBangDuration. The setter and getter methods for this variable are renamed to reflect this change as setCoastOptionBangDuration() and getCoastOptionBangDuration(), respectively. See the module documentation for the current usage of this parameter and these associated methods.

  • Updated messaging files so that non-swig messages can be subscribed to, and data read out from. Supports pybind-based messages notably.

Version 2.2.1 (Dec. 22, 2023)

  • Created a new example scenario scenarioSatelliteConstellation demonstrating setup of a Walker-Delta constellation

  • Created a new Module: pinholeCamera module to support generation of landmarks-based measurements around a small body.

  • Corrected a memory leak in the swig access to standard vectors inside messages.

  • A new integrated example script scenarioSmallBodyLandmarks demonstrates the use of the pinhole camera module

  • Created a new example scenario scenarioSpinningBodiesTwoDOF that showcases the different capabilities of the Module: spinningBodyTwoDOFStateEffector module.

  • Corrected an error with Module: thrusterStateEffector where if there are multiple instances of the thruster state effector then the last effector will over-write all the state of the earlier thrusters.

  • Corrected an error with Module: magnetometer where the RNG seed was passed to the Gauss-Markov noise model within the constructor and could therefore not be modified after creating the object. Furthermore, the noise model is now only used if all three components of the standard deviation parameter are initialized to a positive value.

  • Removed fswAuto and associated documentation, as the tool was outdated.

  • Changed how C modules are wrapped as C++ classes. This makes handling C modules the same as C++ modules, removing the need for “Config” and “Wrap” objects. Updated all scenarios and test files for this new syntax. To convert prior script to use the new syntax, see Adding Basilisk Modules for the simple new syntaxt to add C-modules.

  • Modified Module: mrpFeedback to enable the use of a modified control law, and added the integral control torque feedback output message.

  • Resolved a crash, induced by uninitialized memory, in the Camera module. The crash was first seen on Ubuntu 22 with gcc 9.5

  • Implemented new syntax for variable logging. See Setting and Recording Module Variables.

  • Basilisk minimum Python version is now formally 3.8.x (checked by build files). Previously, it was indicated to be 3.7.x yet in practice it was 3.8.x.

  • Added a TotalAccumDV_CN_N field in SCStatesMsgPayload that saves the total accumulated velocity of the spacecraft’s center of mass in the inertial frame.

Warning

SWIG files (.i) for modules should include %include "sys_model.i" instead of %include "sys_model.h" to take advantage of the new module variable logging feature.

  • Added prescribed angle and angle rates to Module: spinningBodyOneDOFStateEffector and Module: spinningBodyTwoDOFStateEffector modules.

  • Created a Module: scanningInstrumentController, similar to Module: simpleInstrumentController, but which constantly checks if the attitude error and angular rate (optional) are within the requirement limits and sends an imaging command to a Module: simpleInstrument.

  • Added a new scenario scenarioHohmann that performs a Hohmann transfer with attitude mode changes. The basic attitude flight modes are implemented using the Basilisk event system.

  • updated conan support to latest 1.xx version to provide support for macOS Sonoma

  • updated macOS cspice library to be compiled with Xcode 15. This addresses some errors that appeared when calling the prior pre-built cspice library. The new library is backwards compatible with prior versions of Xcode.

  • Fixed a bug in the conanfile where the stderr output from a subprocess.Popen call was being interpreted as an error. Rather, the process return code (0 for success, and anything else for failure) indicates the success.

  • The MAX_N_CSS_MEAS define is increased to 32 matching the maximum number of coarse sun sensors.

  • mixed bug in time to nano-seconds conversions in macros.py support file

  • Created Module: thrusterPlatformState to map the thruster configuration information to body frame given the time-varying platform states.

  • Updated Module: thrusterPlatformReference to add an input and output thruster config msg, and integral feedback term which dumps steady-state momentum in case of uncertainties on the CM location.

  • Created Module: thrustCMEstimation to perform online estimation of the CM using gimbaled thruster torque measurements.

  • Refactored GravityEffector. Adding custom gravity models can now be done by subclassing GravityModel. The utility method useSphericalHarmonicsGravityModel has been added to planetary body objects, which makes the body use spherical harmonics and loads them from a file with a single command. Similarly, the methods usePolyhedralGravityModel and usePointMassGravityModel have been added.

  • Fixed examples and tests to run even when Basilisk is built with --vizInterface False.

  • Added a new method setDataBuffer() to Module: simpleStorageUnit and Module: partitionedStorageUnit to add or remove data from specified partitions.

  • Refactored simIncludeGravBody. The most notable change for users is that the commonly used line scObject.gravField.gravBodies = spacecraft.GravBodyVector(list(gravFactory.gravBodies.values())) can be replaced by gravFactory.addBodiesTo(scObject) (where scObject is a spacecraft.Spacecraft or spacecraftSystem.SpacecraftSystem, and gravFactory is a simIncludeGravBody.gravBodyFactory)

  • Added condition in Module: thrustCMEstimation to avoid measurement updates when input attGuidInMsg has not been written.

  • Added scenarioSepMomentumManagement to show how to use a dual-gimbaled electric thruster to perform contunuous momentum management.

  • Clarified documentation of the input variable FirstStart of the method CreateNewTask().

  • Marked the method CreateNewTask() input variable InputDelay as depreciated. This variable was never implemented and did nothing.

  • Fixed terminal events to terminate at the time they are triggered instead of one timestep after.

Version 2.2.0 (June 28, 2023)

  • Created new way to define Python modules by inheriting from Basilisk.architecture.sysModel.SysModel. See Making Python Modules for details.

  • Added the ability to integrate the ODE’s of two or more Basilisk modules that are DynamicObject class member at the same time. See Advanced: Using DynamicObject Basilisk Modules

  • updated ZMQ version to 4.5.0. For 2-way communication with opNav modules talking to Vizard then Vizard 2.1.5 or newer should be used. This also removes the need for the legacy bincrafters code repo. Delete ~/.conan folder if you run into conan issues.

  • The Basilisk project C++ version is advanced from C++11 to C++17

  • Disabled the following build options in the conan included OpenCV dependency; with_ffmpeg video frame encoding lib, with_ade graph manipulations framework, with_tiff generate image in TIFF format, with_openexr generate image in EXR format, with_quirc QR code lib. Users that have Basilisk control the build of these modules through the External Modules CMake integration will need to manual toggle these OpenCV build options.

  • Updated Module: smallBodyNavEKF with several bug fixes. Removed spacecraft attitude estimation component.

  • Bug fix made to Module: eclipse: Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune radii were incorrectly being assigned the radius of Mars.

  • Added custom planet name to Module: eclipse in case the user wants to use a body not contained within the module.

  • Removed all instances of using unitTestSupport.np2EigenVectorXd(), as this function is now unneeded.

  • Created a Module: facetSRPDynamicEffector dynamics module to calculate the B frame SRP force and torque acting on a static spacecraft.

  • fixed PCI2PCPF() and PCPF2PCI methods in geodeticConversion to use the correct DCM

  • updated geodeticConversion to be able to account for planet ellipsoidal shape if polar radius is provided

  • Google Test C/C++ testing framework added

  • Created a Module: prescribedRot2DOF fsw module to profile a prescribed 2 DOF rotational maneuver for a secondary rigid body connected to the spacecraft hub. To simulate the maneuver, this module must be connected to the Module: prescribedMotionStateEffector dynamics module.

  • Corrected default value of accuracyNanos in Module: simSynch to be 0.01 seconds.

  • Added a deprecation system for Basilisk. For developers, see Deprecating code in Basilisk.

  • Changed the units of plasma flux in Module: dentonFluxModel and PlasmaFluxMsgPayload from [cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-2 eV^-1] to [m^-2 s^-1 sr^-2 eV^-1], because m^-2 is used more frequently in computations

  • Fixed a bug in eclipse that caused potentially occluding bodies to be skipped if a prior body was closer to the sun than the spacecraft

  • fixed the time evaluation in Module: msisAtmosphere

  • Added an optional controllerStatus variable and deviceStatusInMsg message to the Module: simpleInstrumentController to match the functionality of the corresponding data and power modules

  • Corrected tasks priorities in several scenarios and added checks in two modules to ensure that C MSG read errors are not thrown

  • Fixed bug where message struct members of bool python types are returned as empty dicts instead of array of boolsgit

  • Refactored the Module: prescribedMotionStateEffector dynamics module to vary the prescribed states across the dynamics integration time step.

  • The encryption build option for the project’s conan zmq dependency is disabled because it is uneeded.

  • Added an optional controllerStatus variable and deviceStatusInMsg message to the Module: simpleInstrumentController to match the functionality of the corresponding data and power modules

  • Corrected tasks priorities in several scenarios and added checks in two modules to ensure that C MSG read errors are not thrown

  • Reworked how integrators are implemented. New Runge-Kutta integrators may now be added simply by specifying the relevant coefficients.

  • Added a scenario that showcases differences between integrators. See scenarioIntegratorsComparison

Version 2.1.7 (March 24, 2023)

  • Fixed CMake/conan case sensitivty issue when compiling Basilisk with opNav flag set to True on Linux platforms

  • Created fsw Module: hingedRigidBodyPIDMotor to compute the commanded torque to Module: spinningBodyOneDOFStateEffector using a proportional-integral-derivative controller.

  • Added Module: torqueScheduler to combine two ArrayMotorTorqueMsgPayload into one and implement effector locking logic.

  • Refactored how Custom.cmake files are included and how they are to be constructed. Custom.cmake files should no longer include an include guard (e.g. if(BUILD_OPNAV) ... endif(BUILD_OPNAV) ). Rather, to add optionally compile a module, its directory name should be added to a list in src/cmake/bskTargetExcludeBuildOptions.cmake. Most importantly, the build target is now accessible within the a Custom.cmake file as ${TARGET_NAME}. This enables appropriate modularization of build target specific includes, dependencies, and compiler flags. For an example of the implications of this refactor review the before and after of the src/cmake/usingOpenCV.cmake file.

  • updated unitTestSupport to create the file path in a platform agnostic manner

  • Created a Module: sensorThermal module to model the temperature of a sensor using radiative heat transfer

  • Created a Module: tempMeasurement module to add sensor noise/bias and fault capabilities to temperature readings

  • Added a terminal flag to the event handlers that cause the simulation to terminate when triggered; demonstrated use of flag in update to scenarioDragDeorbit.

  • Created a Module: prescribedMotionStateEffector dynamics module for appending rigid bodies with prescribed motion to the spacecraft hub.

  • Created a Module: prescribedRot1DOF fsw module to profile a prescribed rotational maneuver for a secondary rigid body connected to the spacecraft hub. To simulate the maneuver, this module must be connected to the Module: prescribedMotionStateEffector dynamics module.

  • Created a Module: prescribedTrans fsw module to profile a prescribed translational maneuver for a secondary rigid body connected to the spacecraft hub. To simulate the maneuver, this module must be connected to the Module: prescribedMotionStateEffector dynamics module.

  • Added Module: solarArrayReference to compute the reference angle and angle rate for a rotating solar array.

  • Update python dependency documentation and check to not use conan version 2.0.0 for now

  • Changed the SpinningBodyStateEffector module name to Module: spinningBodyOneDOFStateEffector.

  • Added the ability to lock the axis on the Module: spinningBodyOneDOFStateEffector module.

  • Added two new unit tests to Module: spinningBodyOneDOFStateEffector.

  • Updated Module: magneticFieldWMM to use the latest WMM coefficient file and evaluation software

  • Added a Module: spinningBodyTwoDOFStateEffector module that simulates a two-axis rotating rigid component.

  • Created Module: oneAxisSolarArrayPoint to generate the reference attitude for a spacecraft that needs to point a body-fixed axis along an inertial direction while ensuring maximum power generation on the solar arrays

  • Added a maximum power parameter maxPower to Module: reactionWheelStateEffector for limiting supplied power, independent of the modules in simulation/power.

  • Added Module: thrusterPlatformReference to align the dual-gimballed thruster with the system’s center of mass, or at an offset thereof to perform momentum dumping.

  • Improved reliability of opNav scenario communication between Module: vizInterface and Vizard

  • provide support or Vizard 2.1.4 features

Version 2.1.6 (Jan. 21, 2023)

  • Refactored keplerianOrbit to not depend on the gravityEffector class

  • Updated Basilisk install documentation to discuss accessing source code from GitHub.com

  • Fixed an issue where attaching a thruster to a body different than the hub when using zeroBase would yield very large offsets.

  • Added documentation in Recording Messages on how to read the current message values

  • Highlighted the challege of setting up a recorder on a re-directed message in Advanced: Redirecting Module Output to Stand-Alone Message

  • added the ability to add a recorder() to a C-wrapped module input message

  • Fix an issue in in Module: magneticFieldWMM where a fixed width array holding a file path would result in a cutoff path when basilisk is located in a directory path of greater than 100 characters.

  • Updated the build system to use newer versions of eigen, protobuf, cppzmq and opencv. This corrects some build issues with new compilers.

  • The linearAlgebra, rigidBodyKinematics, orbitalMotion were mistakenly exposed as part of the sim_model module’s API. They have been removed and the functions they provided are still found in Basilisk.utilities.orbitalMotion, Basilisk.architecture.linearAlgebra, and Basilisk.architecture.rigidBodyKinematics.

  • Fixed an issued recording the timeWritten information of a C-wrapped message with a recorder() module.

  • Updated Download Source Code to ask the user to first install lfs before pulling a copy of the Basilisk repo due to some large files being stored in the GitHub large file storage system.

  • Updated scenarioGroundLocationImaging to properly save off the ground location information for Vizard

  • Added a new helper function to convert C arrays to Eigen::MRPd and vice-versa inside avsEigenSupport.

  • Updated SpinningBodyStateEffector to use the HingedRigidBodyMsgPayload output message type for compatibility with other modules

  • Added the ability to set an inertial heading in the Module: boreAngCalc module. Changed the internal module logic to use Eigen library variables and functions instead of C-style arrays and methods.

  • Added support for Vizard v2.1.3

  • Updated Module: simpleInstrumentController to provide the option to consider the angular velocity tracking error norm when considering to take an image.

Version 2.1.5 (Dec. 13, 2022)

  • Made the external module custom message definitions work again with the latest build system.

  • Fixed the custom RW in simIncludeRW to store the information regarding u_min in the RW class.

  • provide support for the swig 4.1 software

  • Added the ability in both Module: thrusterDynamicEffector and Module: thrusterStateEffector to connect a thruster to a moving body different than the hub.

  • The thrusters now have an additional variable called MaxSwirlTorque. Useful for ion thrusters, it adds a torque about the thrust axis proportional to the current thrust factor.

  • Added a torsional spring and damper to the SpinningBodyStateEffector module.

  • Added support for having multiple Vizard instrument cameras setup in Module: vizInterface

Warning

The support for having multiple Vizard instrument cameras requires a change in Module: vizInterface, and thus breaks existing code that using direct Vizard communication. The image output message is now a vector of output messages, and the cameraConfigBuffer class variable can no longer be set directly. Rather, the camera configuration message should be added using the viz.addCamMsgToModule(), or the message can be created and added using the convenience method vizSupport.createCameraConfigMsg().

  • Updated Module: hingedRigidBodyStateEffector and Module: dualHingedRigidBodyStateEffector such that the effector inertial states are relative to the inertial frame of the simulation, not the central body frame.

  • Added color keyword support to the vizSupport.createCustomModel() method

  • Updated Swig Interface File to explain how now the swig interface to vectors of input/output messages are now auto-generated when making Basilisk project

  • added documentation about creating and importing custom Unity addressable assets in Custom Unity Models.

  • fixed scenarioAttLocPoint to display the Earth location and the associated cone again in Vizard. Updated BSK Scripting Settings description of addLocation() method.

  • Added experimental support to build Basilisk on Linux with a computer using an ARM processor.

  • Updated CameraConfigMsgPayload to support the Vizard flag updateCameraParameters which allows the camera parameters to be updated live.

  • Updated documentation to discuss downloading Basilisk from GitHub

Version 2.1.4 (Oct. 1, 2022)

  • revised how the build system swig’s all the message objects. This leads to compile time improvements across all platforms. In Linux in particular we are seeing a 2x reduction in compile time. These changes also reduce the memory requirements when compiling. Note: The basilisk.architecture.cMsgCInterfacePy content is now included in basilisk.architecture.messaging package. Prior scripts using cMsgCInterfacePy still run as a link has been created. However, the use of cMsgCInterfacePy is depreciated and code should be updated to using messaging instead.

  • added new Module: hingedRigidBodyMotorSensor for adding noise, bias, and discretization to panel state message

  • added new Module: simpleVoltEstimator to provide simulated voltage measurements of a neighboring space object

  • added the ability to have a RW motor torque break slow down the wheel speed if saturated. The motor torque is set to zero if it is trying to increase the wheel speed in saturation conditions.

  • updated Windows install instructions about setting path variables

  • enhanced Windows install instructions to highlight adding cmake binary to the command line path

  • added new training videos to scenario_BasicOrbit, scenario_FeedbackRW to discuss how to create class based Basilisk simulations

  • added new Module: groundMapping for mapping points on the surface of a spherical body.

  • added new Module: mappingInstrument to pass along access from a vector of map points to a storage unit.

  • updated Module: locationPointing to allow for spacecraft targeting as well

  • added new scenarioGroundMapping scenario to demonstrate the new mapping capabilities.

  • added new scenarioRendezVous scenario illustrating a servicer approaching a debris object and engage several flight modes.

  • added new scenario scenarioDragDeorbit

  • added new scenario scenarioLagrangePointOrbit

  • added Vizard 2.1.1 support for spacecraft ellipsoid shapes, Unity camera parameters

  • added support for the polynomial gravity model to Module: gravityEffector

  • updated the conanFile.py to fix configuration and building issues with the latest version of python

  • fixed issue computing latitude angle in PCPF2LLA() in geodeticConversion. This was used in the helper method specifyLocationPCPF() method inside Module: groundLocation, as well as Module: msisAtmosphere and Module: albedo.

  • fixed an issue in the RKF45 variable time step integrator where one of the constants had the wrong sign.

  • added new scenarioMomentumDumping to illustrate how to perform momentum dumping using thrusters.

  • updated Module: hingedRigidBodyStateEffector to allow for an optional panel reference state input message

  • added new scenarioDeployingPanel to demonstrate panel deployment using panel reference message

  • added new Module: thrusterStateEffector which is compatible with a variable time step integrator. Here the thrust on-off command is passed through a first order low-pass filter to provide smooth on- and off-ramping.

  • added new attitude pointing scenario scenarioAttitudeFeedback2T_stateEffTH that uses the new Module: thrusterStateEffector

  • added ability to simulate faults within Module: coarseSunSensor module

  • created a 1-DoF rotating rigid body class SpinningBodyStateEffector. It is built in a general way to simulate any effector with a single spinning axis.

Version 2.1.3 (May 25, 2022)

Version 2.1.2 (March 12, 2022)

  • enhanced Module: spiceInterface to allow Spice spacecraft names to be setup to pull their trajectory and attitude states from a spice kernel

  • added scenarioSpiceSpacecraft to illustrate using Spice to specify the trajectory of a spacecraft while leaving the attitude dynamics unprescribed.

  • fixed a bug where using the generator flag to build on windows would skip a line in the conanfile.py that is crucial for building opNav.

  • added Module: dentonFluxModel to compute electron and ion fluxes for the GEO regime.

  • fixed build issue with conan version 1.44 or newer

  • fixed an issue doing a clean build of opNav mode where conan failed to install opencv/4.1.1 with the jasper dependency.

  • enhanced ability to set the planet Spice frame in the gravity factory class

  • new ability to set the Vizard celestial body name to be different from the Spice planet body name

  • added support for pytest version 7.0.0 and higher

  • updated how pytest is run to generate a resulting HTML report

  • modified Module: msmForceTorque to create an output message with the MSM charge values for each spacecraft

  • added new scenarioInertialSpiral example scenario

  • improved robustness of Basilisk installation script

  • provide support for Vizard 2.0.4 feature scripting

  • added a new heliocentric mission simulation example using custom Spice spacecraft trajectory file scenarioHelioTransSpice

  • added a new planetary fly-by mission example using a custom Spice translational file and attitude pointing modes scenarioFlybySpice

  • added a new asteroid arrival mission example with attitude pointing modes scenarioAsteroidArrival

  • added a new scenario scenarioTwoChargedSC illustrating how to apply the MSM spacecraft charging model to a relative motion simulation

Version 2.1.1 (Dec. 15, 2021)

  • Updated OpNav mode dependency gettext to version 0.21 to allow BSK to be build on Windows with OpNav support.

  • created two new messages that contain the information regarding scheduled burns for orbit reconfiguration in formation flying scenarios. See ReconfigBurnInfoMsgPayload and ReconfigBurnArrayInfoMsgPayload.

  • the module Module: spacecraftReconfig now outputs a message of type ReconfigBurnArrayInfoMsgPayload. All internal calculation are also done using a buffer of this message type.

  • Added the time standard library to include statements in atmosphereBase.h to fix a build issue found on windows.

  • updated Module: spacecraft to include an optional translational reference message to specify the trajectory

  • Added a swig array-type ARRAYINTASLIST that fixes a double to int conversion error when building the FSWdeviceAvailability message on windows.

  • Updated dispersions.py to support functionality that was deprecated in python3.10. This change supports python versions >=3.3.

  • Updated the Windows build process to fix a static runtime library issue with vizInterface found in older versions of visual studio.

  • Added scripting support for Vizard 2.0.3

Version 2.1.0 (Nov. 13, 2021)

  • added BSpline function to utilities and related UnitTest.

  • added kinematic relations between angular accelerations and second derivative of MRP set to rigidBodyKinematics library

  • updated the installation script to function with the latest conan program and the recent conan repo changes. Note, you will have to delete the .conan folder in your home directory to create a fresh copy of the software dependencies.

  • added a Developer support page Accessing the Debugger for C/C++ Basilisk Modules

  • fixed a memory leak with the Swig layer where an object was not released properly. Thanks go to Stephen Ritter and Toney for tracking down this issue.

  • added a new orbit maneuver example scenarioJupiterArrival

  • made SWIG interface to the MRP derivative variable

  • added two new variable time step integrators. See Module: svIntegratorRKF45 and Module: svIntegratorRKF78.

  • updated the state effector base class to also provide the current integration time step in addition to the current time

  • added new scenario scenarioVariableTimeStepIntegrators

  • updated scenarioIntegrators to include the rkf45 and rkf78 options

  • changed the way Module: spacecraftReconfig gets the deputy’s mass properties. It now receives that information through a message of the type VehicleConfigMsgPayload instead of an internal variable. Relevant example scripts have been updated.

  • new tutorial example scenario script scenarioTAMcomparison

  • new mass sensor that converts a simulation mass properties message to a FSW vehicle configuration message Module: simpleMassProps

  • added scripting support for Vizard 2.0.1 and 2.0.2

  • This release provides a new ability to run a single Basilisk simulation in a multi-threaded manner. The BSK processes can be spread across multiple threads. See scenario_BasicOrbitMultiSat_MT for an example of how to use this.

Warning

The BSK v2.1 multi-threading assumes all processes assigned to a thread can run independently from processes in another thread. Further, cross thread message communication is not yet thread safe!

Version 2.0.7

  • new Module: forceTorqueThrForceMapping to map commanded forces and torques to a set of thrusters

  • updated Vizard documentation on the setting flags orbitLinesOn and trueTrajectoryLinesOn

  • added power and fuel tank modules to the BSK_MultiSatDynamics class.

  • improved the DV calculation of the spacecraft state output message by integrating the gravitational acceleration using the current integration scheme rather than using a first order approximation.

  • updated install script to be able to have conan install opencv again. Something changed with the conan repo that broke this.

  • updated BSK install instructions on the M1 Apple Silicon platform as Basiliks can now run natively

Version 2.0.6

Version 2.0.5

  • fixed issue in Module: waypointReference to interpolate between waypoint n and shadow set of waypoint n+1 when these are described by opposite MRP sets. Updated documentation and corrected typos in scenarioAttitudeConstraintViolation.

  • Added Module: hillStateConverter and Module: hillToAttRef modules for formation flight navigation and attitude-driven differential drag

  • Added representative scenario scenarioDragRendezvous demonstrating attitude-driven differential drag formation flight

  • Added new scenario scenarioDragSensitivity showing how to do a differential drag spacecraft control sensitivity analysis

  • updated Module: celestialTwoBodyPoint to account for a case where the celestial objects are in opposite directions

  • replaced acos() and asin() with safeAcos() and safeAsin() which ensure that arguments are clipped to be within and including -1 and 1

  • updated Module: dataFileToViz to allow the Reset() method to be called multiple times. If a data file was already opened, then it is closed before the next data file is opened.

  • updated Module: groundLocation to also output SEZ coordinates, as well as range, azimuth, elevation, south, east and zenith coordinate rates. These coordinates are always computed regardless if a spacecraft is visible to the target. Check the hasAccess message variable to see if the spacecraft is visible.

  • updated the OpNav examples script to set a black sky background in the Vizard camera images

  • added a new Python method isSubscribedTo() to query if the input and output messages between two modules are connected

  • updated Module: gravityEffector documentation to properly pull in the RST documentation and link to the PDF describing the gravity models

  • updated setAllButCurrentEventActivity method in SimulationBaseClass to work with multiple satellites. We can now add an index at the end of each event name that guarantees only events with the same index are affected. The useIndex flag must be set to True.

  • added new magnetic torque bar effector in Module: MtbEffector

  • added new FSW module to control the RW momentum using MTBs in Module: mtbMomentumManagement

  • new tutorial example script scenarioMtbMomentumManagement

  • updated Module: rwNullSpace to have an optional input message of desired RW speeds. These desired values default to zero so the module retains the earlier behavior if this optional input message is not connected.

  • added two lines in Module: waypointReference to normalize the attitude quaternion that is read from file.

Version 2.0.4

  • updated Module: spacecraft Reset() method to write all spacecraft and effector state output messages with their initial values. This way these output messages are correct as already as calling the InitializeSimulation() method.

  • fixed an issue that could prevent .subscribeTo from a C++ to C wrapped message object to not function properly.

  • new Module: simpleInstrumentController that sends an imaging command to a Module: simpleInstrument if the attitude error and access to a Module: groundLocation module are within requirements.

  • new scenarioGroundLocationImaging example script that demonstrates the aforementioned module integrated into a full on-board data system.

  • new Module: etSphericalControl module that controls the relative motion of the Electrostatic Tug

  • new scenarioDebrisReorbitET example script that demonstrates using the Electrostatic Tug and the Multi-Sphere Method

  • updated Module: groundLocation to always compute the elevation, range and azimuth information, even if the satellite does not have access. The output message variable hasAccess provides access information.

  • added scripting support for Vizard 1.8.4

  • updated scenarioGroundLocationImaging to demonstrate the use of the new vizSupport.createTargetLine() method

Version 2.0.3

  • new integrated scenario in scenarioAttitudeConstraintViolation. Shows how to use the Module: boreAngCalc to display keep-in and keep-out constraint violations while performing slew maneuvers.

  • new Module: locationPointing module to do 2-axis attitude control which aligns a body-fixed vector to a desired inertial location

  • new scenarioAttLocPoint example script how to point a spacecraft body axis towards Boulder

  • new integrated scenario in scenarioAttitudeConstraintViolation. Shows how to use the Module: boreAngCalc to display keep-in and keep-out constraint violations while performing slew maneuvers.

  • updated Module: inertial3DSpin to make the attitude input message optional, updated documentation to be RST only and more descriptive of the associated math, and changed the module variable omega_spin to omega_RR0_R0

  • enables the message recorder() module to function if the message structure contains structures itself.

  • make the build system compatible with Python 3.8 and higher on Windows

  • fixed custom RW support method in simIncludeRW.py

  • fixed new C++20 related compiler warnings

Version 2.0.2

  • new waypoint reference module in Module: waypointReference. It can be used to read an attitude maneuver from a set of waypoints on a text file, likely generated outside Basilisk.

  • updated Module: gravityEffector to allow the planet message module (spiceInterface or planetEphemeris) to be called either before or after the spacecraft module update is called

  • Fix a range of long-standing HTML Documentation build warnings and issues

  • Renamed the messages CirclesOpNavMsgPayload to OpNavCirclesMsgPayload and OpNavLimbMsgPayload to OpNavLimbMsgPayload to avoid sphinx naming conflicts

  • unified the identical ukfUtilities.c/h files in attDetermination and opticalNavigation folders into architecture/utilities

  • added a new RW encoder simulation module Module: encoder

  • Fixed a bug in the onboardDataHandling module that allowed for data that did not exist to be downlinked

  • changed default behavior of python3 conanfile.py to automatically compile the Basilisk project. This was a common stumbling point for new users. The build flag --buildProject can be used to enable automatic compiling or not. For developers making new code this should likely be set to False when configuring the project.

  • Fixed a bug in SimulationBaseClass that prevented creating an event with multiple conditions

  • added ShowExecutionOrder() method to SimulationBaseClass to print to the terminal the order that the process, tasks and modules are executed.

  • added ShowExecutionFigure() method to SimulationBaseClass to create a figure illustration the execution order.

  • added a new Seeing the Order of Process, Task and Module Execution web page on how to visualize the BSK process, task and module execution

  • added new bskSim example scenario showing how to alternate between flight modes in scenario_AttModes

  • provide scripting support for Vizard 1.8.2 release

Version 2.0.1

  • Added the ability to clear the data of a message recorder using .clear()

  • Fixed a rare issue where RW data didn’t stick

  • Fixed an issue subscribing to a C++ wrapped message object from python

  • Cleaned up documentation on using datashaders and bokeh to interactively plot large simulation data sets. The script scenarioAnalyzeMonteCarlo is updated to discuss the particular challenges in running this datashader example of plotting data.

  • enable Monte Carlo pytest test scripts to run on macOS if Python 3.9 or higher is used

  • enable opNav scenario pytest test scripts to be tested by pytest if the build flag --opNav is set to true and the path to Vizard application is set in BSK_OpNav.

  • fixed an issue that prevented subscribing to a C++ msg from python

  • moved Module: cModuleTemplate and Module: cppModuleTemplate to a common folder src/moduleTemplates. The associated HTML documentation now appears inside the Documentation tab under moduleTemplates.

  • added the src/utilities/makeDraftModule.py script that is able to create a draft module template given

    • module name

    • module description

    • module location

    • list of module input or output messages containing

      • message variable name

      • message payload definition

      • message description

      • message type (ie. C or C++)

    The script then generates either a C or C++ module folder that contains the elemental *.c/cpp, *.h, *.i code which compiles into a functioning prototype module. Also included are the module *.rst file which provides the basic description and message table (including hyperlinks to message payload type and message description), as well as a functioning python unit test that loads the module, connects zero’d input messages and sets up output message recorders. The coder can then take this draft module code and modify to achieve the desired functionality. The page moduleTemplates discusses how to use it and provides to 2 sample auto-generated modules that get created inside src/moduleTemplates with python conanfile.py.

  • new thermal motor module in Module: motorThermal. It it be used to simulate the temperature of a RW motor.

Version 2.0.0

  • New message system with strong type checking. You now get a much simpler method to create message objects, how to connect them within python, create stand-alone messages in python, etc. If you engage with a message of the wrong type you get immediate compiler warnings.

  • New C++ based message recording system that is much faster than the older python based message logging

  • New messaging recording now stores the message data separately from the time a message was recorded and the time the message was written

  • Removed the arbitrary distinction between FSW, SIM and INT messages. All messages are now available to all modules

  • Both C and C++ based message interfaces are now auto-generated when running python3 conanfile.py command

  • New ability to create zero’d message structures in the modules

  • Seamless message subscribing in Python across all modules types (C, C++ or Python)

  • New generic RW device type in simIncludeRW and updated the support library to work with BSK2

  • Updated simIncludeGravBody to work with BSK2. If needed the Module: spiceInterface and EpochMsgPayload message is created within the gravity factory class.

  • Updated simIncludeThruster to work with BSK2

  • Updated fswSetupRW to work with BSK2

  • Updated fswSetupThrusters to work with BSK2

  • Update Basilisk module documentation that shows all input and output message variables, their type and explanation

  • Cleaned up the Basilisk src folder layout by moving all Basilisk architecture support files to src/architecture. This impacts some include statements

  • Made the C/C++ #include statements all relative to src to make it easier to find the associated files in the source code

  • Updated message names to now all comply with the Basilisk message naming convention. See Migrating Basilisk Scripts from Version 1.X to 2.X for a table of how some message names have changed

  • Updated vizSupport to work with BSK2. It is now much easier to include RW, thruster and CSS devices. Further, the simulation gravity bodies don’t have to be explicitly provided to the vizSupport.enableUnityVisualization() method. Rather, these are pulled from the spacecraft object directly.

  • Module: reactionWheelStateEffector is updated where the list of RW configuration parameters are now linked from python, not copied. As a result it is now possible to stop the simulation and change RW parameters on the fly, emulating a failure with a physical change in the RW mechanics.

  • changed the output message type of Module: magnetometer to be compatible with Module: tamComm

  • Created several instructional pages in the Quick-Start documentation folder. The examples folder has moved to the Quick-Start guide as well. The new quick start guide now discusses

    • how to write Basilisk python simulation scripts

    • how to write C++, C and Python modules

  • Added installation instructions to run Basilisk on a computer with the Apple M1 processor

  • added Module: spacecraftLocation module to allow checking for satellite to satellite line-of-sight access

  • made maximumRange an optional variable in Module: groundLocation

  • renamed spacecraftDynamics to Module: spacecraftSystem, and renamed the associated spacecraft to spacecraftUnit().

  • renamed spacecraftPlus() to be now simply Module: spacecraft

  • renamed the spacecraftPlus associated messages to SCStatesMsgPayload and SCMassPropsMsgPayload

  • renamed fswModuleTemplate() to be Module: cModuleTemplate. This makes this naming consistent with the new Module: cppModuleTemplate.

  • renamed rwMotorVoltageInterface to Module: motorVoltageInterface. This motor model can be used for both RW and hinged panel devices.

  • added support to creating custom gravity bodies to simIncludeGravBody. Including support to have custom gravity bodies shown in Vizard as well. The example script scenarioCustomGravBody provides an illustration of this functionality.

Version 1.8.10

  • Added support and expanded installation instructions making use of virtual environments

Version 1.8.9

  • Added support for Location scripting in Vizard 1.7.1

  • Added a new documentation page discussing how to launch Vizard from the command line and what optional arguments are available

Version 1.8.8

  • The protobuffer interface files are now automatically created from src/utilities/vizProtobuffer/vizMessage.proto without having to manually run the protoc command each time the protobuffer message definitions changed.

  • centerRadiusCNN is now supported on all the platforms

  • Support Terminal Progress bar while running a Basilisk simulation

  • Improved the build system to re-swig the module if the dependencies have changed. This avoids having to do a clean build or manually deleting the swing python files from within dist3/Basilisk.

  • All unit test cases are compatible with windows platform

  • Added scripting support for Vizard 1.7.0

Version 1.8.7

  • Updated orbitalMotion python and C libraries to include the new methods hillFrame(), hill2rv() and rv2hill()

  • Updated Module: dualHingedRigidBodyStateEffector to support an output message of the panel angular states, an output message of the panel inertial position and attitude states, as well as upgrading the module to support spacecraftDynamics.

  • Updated Module: vizInterface to support scripting of new Vizard 1.6.1 features

Version 1.8.6

  • Fixed an issue where some Sim-FSW interface messages could not be written to from the Python layer

  • Fixed an issue that prevented the opNav build mode to compile the OpenCV related libraries on macOS with Xcode 12 installed

  • renamed RWArraytorqueIntMsg to arrayMotorTorqueIntMsg

  • updated Module: hingedRigidBodyStateEffector to

    • write the panel angle and angle rate output message

    • write the panel inertial and position states as an output message

    • updated document to make use of RST format and specify module input and output messages

  • updated avsEigenSupport.h to add new methods eigenMRPd2Vector3d() and eigenC2MRP()

  • updated spacecraftPlus to allow the attitude motion to be prescribed through an optional input message of type attRefMsg.

  • fixed sign issue in Module: simpleSolarPanel

  • support Vizard 1.6.0 scripting

Version 1.8.5

  • Provide support of Vizard 1.5.1 scripting

  • Updated conan to 1.29.2 to address issues building with opNav and support xcode 12

  • Disable freetype for windows because of opencv build issues.

Version 1.8.4

  • update the macOS dependency to use either conan~=1.24 or conan>=1.28. The later resolves the linking issues that conan had on macOS. Other platforms can use conan>=1.24.0.

  • updated vizInterface to support the latest features of Vizard 1.5, including the ability to show relative trajectories

  • updated scenarioFormationBasic example script to show more general orbits and the use of the scientific camera sensor scripting

  • On Windows the new build system now builds Module: vizInterface

Version 1.8.3

  • Removed old CMakeLists.txt files that are no longer needed

  • Improved the build process for Linux such that vizInterface and opNav related modules are available again in Basilisk python scripts. Thus Linux users can use 1.8.x onwards and still use these enhanced features. The similar issue on the Windows platorm is not resolved yet.

  • Updated setup instructions to remind the user to delete .conan folder if upgrading from a BSK version prior to 1.8.0

  • Added support for Vizard 1.4.1 that allows setting default and thruster group plume colors. The built-in thruster pluming length can be now be custo scaled as well.

  • Added a video gallery page to the Vizard documentation section

Version 1.8.2

  • Updated Module: dataFileToViz to include the ability to read thruster force values. The spacecraft can have multiple thruster sets, and this works for multiple spacecraft as well. See test_dataFileToViz for an example on how to set this up.

  • Updated Module: dataFileToViz to include support for reaction wheel data.

  • Updated documentation and CMakeLists.txt to required 3.14 or higher

  • Updated how openCV is included to avoid false Xcode warnings about the library not being installed

  • Added Module: centerRadiusCNN for doing CNN-based image processing as well as a pre-trained model (read by the module) that allows to extract center and apparent diameter from Mars images. Note that for now this module is only built on macOS systems. As we are able to test on other platforms we will include it there too.

  • Added scenario_CNNAttOD to illustrate the use of the CNN-based image processing

  • Added support for Vizard v1.4.0 scripting

Version 1.8.1

  • Added a new folder externalTools/fswAuto that contains external tools to migrate BSK simulations and modules to C-code

  • Added a new Module: albedo which can simulate the average or data driven albedo of a single planet. This works also if multiple celestial bodies are setup.

  • New scenarioAlbedo to illustrate the use of Module: albedo

  • Made the RST HTML document creation work on Windows as well (see Creating the HTML Basilisk Documentation using Sphinx/Doxygen)

  • Fixed the conan issues where the IDE only saw the Debug path of the Eigen library, not the Release path. This gets rid of false warnings in Xcode that <Eigen/Dense> could not be found.

  • updated the installer script to automatically set the conan repo information. This removes one more step from the installation process.

Version 1.8.0

  • updated Module: imuSensor to initialize all class variables in the constructor

  • fixed a data frame issue in Module: groundLocation

  • first iteration of the CMake refactor completed. The refactor updates the project CMakeList to

    1. conform with more modern CMake practices,

    2. allow developers to include custom dependencies on the module level with Custom.cmake files,

    3. refactors existing SWIG interface files to generate significantly smaller _wrap.c(xx) files,

    4. generates single libraries for GeneralModuleFiles rather than re-including, re-wraping, and recompiling those files at the module level. The latter two changes provide significant improvements in build time.

  • The need for folder module __init__.py files has been removed. If local python support files should be included in the swig’d module, they can be included in the module *.i file using something like %pythoncode "parseSRPLookup.py".

  • The support files in _GeneralModuleFiles are now compiled into a library with the parent folder name. Thus, the src/simulation/dynamics/_GeneralModuleFiles support files yield a swig’d library dynamicsLib. Similarly, src/simulation/environment/_GeneralModuleFiles yields environmentLib.

  • Cleaned up small RST documentation issues

  • Updated the install process to check automatically for required python packages. They are not available, then the user is prompted to install for user, for the system or cancel.

  • Updated the install process to allow a user selectable checking of all optional python packages through allOptBsk flag

  • fixed memory issue in the Module: camera

  • Updated the HTML documentation process to provide tools to clean out the auto-generated documentation, as well as to open the HTML output from the command line

Version 1.7.5

  • Added the ability to shift the HSV or BGR colors of Module: camera

  • Updated Module: vizInterface to allow the user to set the Vizard direct communication protocol, host name and port number.

  • fixed an issues in simIncludeGravBody where the method unloadSpiceKernels had the order of the spice package name and the spice path reversed 😟

  • New Module: dataFileToViz that reads in spacecraft simulation states from a text file and converts them into BSK messages. For example, this allows Module: vizInterface store the simulation data into a Vizard compatible manner.

  • Updated Module: spiceInterface to allow for optional overriding the IAU planet frame with custom values

  • Updated Module: vizInterface to allow setting show24hrClock and showDataRateDisplay flags for Vizard files supported in Vizard v1.3.0

Version 1.7.4

  • hot-fix of an issue compiling Basilisk on Windows. A #define _USE_MATH_DEFINES was missing that Windows expected, but Unix systems didn’t need

Version 1.7.3

  • updated scenarioFormationMeanOEFeedback and scenarioFormationReconfig to increase the orbit altitude to not hit the Earth. Also, added code that can be enabled to record the simulation parameters for Vizard.

  • updated Module: vizInterface to support the latest Vizard v1.2.0 features. You can script that the spacecraft and/or celestial objects are shown as sprites if they become very small. This makes it easier to see where satellites are in a constellation or formation, as well as where Earth is if orbiting about Mars

  • automated how the release number is pulled from a single txt file now

Version 1.7.2

  • new spacecraft formation flying control Module: meanOEFeedback that implements a mean orbit element feedback control law

  • new relative orbit control tutorial example scenarioFormationMeanOEFeedback that uses Module: meanOEFeedback

  • updated documentation of Module: cModuleTemplate to show how to make much simpler lists of module messages using the list-table RST command

  • new spaceraft relative motion control Module: spacecraftReconfig that implements an orbit element based impulsive feedback control strategy. The control is implemented with a thruster model and an attitude guidance message is used to point the spacecraft in the correct direction.

  • new example scenario scenarioFormationReconfig illustrating the use of the new impulsive relative motion control module

Version 1.7.1

Version 1.7.0

  • Fixed a transformation issue in avsEigenSupport.cpp where cArray2EigenMatrix3d() has to deal with both column and row dominant matrix formulations. This only got used in scenarioCSS and the issue was offset by an issue in setUnitDirectionVectorWithPerturbation() that compensated. Now, all is as it should be.

  • Removed unneeded instances of using unitTestSupport.np2EigenVectorXd() when setting the spacecraft states

  • Many new Basilisk scenarios illustration interfacing with Vizard to simulate opNav cases:

  • make scenarioVizPoint work with the latest Vizard scripting methods

    • Add scripting support for the customGUIScale parameter

    • All instrument cameras are now specified through fieldOfView, not sensor size and focal length

    • Added scripting support to turn on camera boresight line or HUD frustum

    • Made instrument cameras not render images to the home folder by default by setting renderRate to zero by default

Version 1.6.0

  • Fixed the long-standing issue of not being able to run pytest on Windows from src, but it only ran from within sub-folders of src. Still recommended to run on Windows multi-threaded pytest -n XXX using pytest-xdist.

  • temporary fix for opencv not finding conan gflags for opencv sfm lib on windows. See the discussion at https://github.com/conan-community/community/issues/210

  • Updated Module: cModuleTemplate to include a message I/O figure and move it’s message definition to simMessages

  • Updated the documentation of mrpPD to the RST format

  • Updated the documentation of mrpSteering to the RST format

  • At long last, 🍾, created Module: GravityGradientEffector which can simulate the gravity gradient torque acting on a spacecraft due to the gravitational influence from one or more planets.

  • Create a new example script scenarioAttitudeGG that illustrates the use of the gravity gradient effector

  • Enhanced the GravBodyData class to now register the planet position, velocity, orientation and attitude rate states. This allows other effectors, such as the gravity gradient effector, to have access to the current planet states at any time step.

  • added Module: ReactionWheelPower which can compute the electrical power consumed by a reaction wheel device

  • added new example script scenarioAttitudeFeedbackRWPower that illustrates doing a RW-based attitude maneuver and tracking the RW power and net battery capacity left.

  • added BCT_RWP015 RW model template to the simIncludeRW.py support file

Version 1.5.1

Version 1.5.0

  • Updated documentation for Module: eclipse module with new RST format

  • Updated Module: cModuleTemplate documentation to show how to add equation numbers, cite equations, do bold math variables and cite a figure caption.

  • Updated Module: reactionWheelStateEffector and Module: vscmgStateEffector such that max speed and max torque are consistently initialized to -1. A negative value was supposed to turn of speed and torque saturation, but this wasn’t consistenly applied.

  • Updated Module: reactionWheelStateEffector such that the RW state output message was not hard-coded and un-changeable. Otherwise a BSK process could never have multiple spacecraft being simulated. Now, the rw effector ModelTag is added to the beginning of the output message. This auto-generate method of message output names is avoided if the user sets the vector of output names from Python during the simulation setup. Note: Any prior BSK script that was logging the old auto-generated RW state messages will need to update the msg name now to work again. See Basilisk Known Issues for more information.

  • Major enhancement to Module: vizInterface where now multiple spacecraft can be added. You can create a list of spacecraft where Module: vizInterface relies on common naming rules to find the right messages, or specify the messages for each spacecraft directly. This is demonstrated in scenarioFormationBasic. For now multiple craft with RW actuators are supported. Multi craft with thrusters will need to be added later.

  • New spacecraft formation flying scenario scenarioFormationBasic where 3 satellites are flying 10m apart in a lead-follower configuration. Each has a different number of RWs. This scenario is a nice script to demonstrate the new multi-spacecraft support in About Vizard.

Version 1.4.2

  • added link to Basilisk facebook page to Sphinx-based documentation

  • made the html documentation compatible with dark mode on macOS, iOS and iPad OS browsers. If the user sets the system interface to dark mode, then the dark version of the web site is shown automatically.

  • added a fix to cmake to get around a lipsodium and conan issue we are seeing on a Linux system

Version 1.4.1

  • added Vizard scripting abilities to control the new spacecraft camera view panel behaviors

  • added Vizard scripting abilities to specify custom CAD OBJ models to replace the default satellite shape

  • added onboardDataHandling modules for simulating data generated, downlinked, and stored by instruments, transmitters, and storage units onboard a spacecraft. See scenarioDataDemo for a demo.

  • updated Module: sunlineSuKF with some general improvements

  • tweak to cmake file to make BSK be portable across Linux systems

  • changed the bskLogging level names to make them unique. This avoids potential variable name conflicts, especially on Windows.

Version 1.4.0

  • updates to the Monte Carlo controller and plotting algorithms to make use of better use of Pandas and Datashader

  • Added a message to the heading estimator in order to perform OpNav pointing

  • added a general message to the Sphinx HTML documentation landing page

  • updated the Basilisk Module Checkout List with updated information and expectations

  • Added a fault detection module for optical navigation

  • Added camera module to own the message and to add corruptions to images

  • Added a new support document Making a New C/C++ Basilisk Module on getting started writing BSK modules

  • Added a new support document Using Sphinx to Document Basilisk Modules and Folders

  • Updated the Welcome to Basilisk: an Astrodynamics Simulation Framework page to include Basilisk highlights

  • Made sure the Monte Carlo unit tests didn’t leave any temporary data files behind

  • Added new helper functions to the RW and Thruster factory classes to return the equivalent FSW configuration message. Updated scenarioAttitudeFeedbackRW simulation script to illustrate how to use such a helper function.

  • Added a new Basilisk logging system called bskLogging. This allows modules to print information with a variable verbosity level

  • Include a new example scenario scenarioBskLog to illustrate how to use variable verbosity BSK notices

Version 1.3.2

  • added the ability to include the unit test python files, along with their documentation, within the sphinx html documentation

  • updated Vizard live streaming documentation

  • updated unit test templates to have better formatting of the html validation report obtained with pytest --report

  • exclude some un-needed files from the html documenation

  • general sphinx documentation related fixed and enhancements

Version 1.3.1

  • small fixes to the new HTML documentation

  • correct the path includes in Monte Carlo Integrated tests

  • updated the MRP_Steering module documentation to include plots of all test cases

Version 1.3.0

  • Update template illustrating how the validation accuracy can be recording in the pytest parameters.

  • Created a new method in SimulationBaseClass called pullMultiMessageLogData This is much faster in pulling the data log from multiple messages at once.

  • It is no longer necessary to call sim.TotalSim.terminateSimulation() at the beginning of Basilisk scripts. This call has been moved to the SimBaseClass constructor and removed from scripts in the repository.

  • A new module in the environments directory, SolarFlux, provides the solar flux value at a spacecraft location including (optionally) eclipse effects

  • New module in the navigation directory, PlanetHeading, provides the heading to a planet in the spacecraft body frame. There is a corresponding new message type BodyHeadingSimMsg.

  • New Sphinx/Breathe based BSK documentation system! All documentation is still stored in the basilisk/docs folder. The new system provides much better directory structure to access the BSK modules, and has a cleaner way to list the tutorial examples.

Version 1.2.1

  • fixed an issued with the magnetometer module tests not passing on all platforms. The tolerances are now adjusted to pass everywhere.

  • various improvements to the OpNav modules and vizInterface

Version 1.2.0

  • Making the Python 3 compile flag be turned on by default. To compile with Python 2 the cmake flag -DUSE_PYTHON3 can still be set to OFF

  • Revised the FSW template module to use the updated in-line module documentation style which adds the description to the module *.h doxygen description, and adds the validation discussion as a doc-string to the test_xxx.py test file.

  • make sure mrpRotation is non-singular for any general referene rotation.

  • Created a Three-Axis-Magnetometer (TAM) sensor simulation model

  • Created a TAM FSW communication model

  • Changed the BSK ReadMessage() method to automatically zero the message memory space before reading in the data

  • Added a base classes for battery energy storage and power consumption/provider nodes

  • Added a simple power node module

  • Added a simpler battery module

  • Added a simple solar panel power module

Version 1.1.0

  • The circle finding module using openCV has been cleaned up and the noise is now dynamically measured given the image

  • A new dispersion was added for Monte Carlo analysis which allows for per-axis control on an initial MRP value

  • Cleaned up opNav messages to be consistent with other messages, and simplified the limbFinding code. Only functionality change is Gaussian Blur.

  • Add new OpNav module using a planet limb. Algorithm developed by J. Christian

  • Added support for OpenCV v 4.1.1 and Eigen library 3.3.7

  • fixed issue with Windows having trouble compiling due to use of uint

  • added instructions on how to use the new Xcode 11 on macOS. This requires installing 2 more tools. Updated the install and macOS FAW pages.

  • added the ability to pytest to use the --report flag to generate a comprehensive html test and validation document. All future modules should use this method to discuss the module validation. Legacy modules will be converted over time.

  • Corrected an issue with some some BSK modules in a low memory computer environment

Version 1.0.0 🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾

  • Added the ability to plot select BSK simulation data live as teh simulation is running. See the new tutorials examples and the new FAQ response page (under Support tab) on how to do this.

  • Lots of code clean up to remove compiler warnings about implicit signedness conversions, print types, etc.

  • Updated scenarioMagneticFieldWMM.py scenario to store images into the correct doxygen folder.

  • [Bugfix] NRLMSISE-00 now defaults to kg/m^3 output, to be consistent with other atmospheric density models.

  • Added the ability to live stream the Basilisk simulation data to Vizard! This functions now in addition to saving BSK data to file and playing it back later on.

Version 0.9.1

  • Created a new attitude guidance module for OpNav: opNavPoint. Similar to sunSafePoint, it matches a target heading with the OpNav heading for a simple and robust solution.

    • added new tutorial on calling Python Spice functions within a Monte Carlo BSK simulation

    • Added Keplerian Orbit utility class which is swig’d. This first implementation takes in elliptical orbit elements and can produce a range of related outputs like position, velocity, orbital period, etc. This makes it easier to create Keplerian orbits within python.

    • Added a LimbFinding module for OpNav: limbFinding. This module performs a Canny transform to find the end of the planet and saves away the non-zero pixels for pose-estimation.

    • made BSK compatible with both swig version 3 and 4

Version 0.9.0

  • Updated the MD help file on how to compile from the command line environment using a custom configuration of Python.

  • Created new optical navigation filter that estimates bias in the measurements. This filter takes in pixel and line data directly.

  • Added the ability to specify Vizard settings from Basilisk vizInterface module settings. This way Basilisk simulations can set the desired Vizard settings from within the simulation script.

  • Added a new MD help file to discuss the helper methods that setup Vizard features

  • Added a python helper function to setup cameraConfigMsg message and create a custom camera view.

  • Added the ability to script what starfield Vizard should use.

  • Made the Vizard helper check that correct keywords are being used.

  • The cmake file now turns ON by default the USE_PROTOBUFFERS and USE_ZMQ build flag options. This enables out of the box support for saving BSK data to Vizard binary files.

Version 0.8.1

  • Added a new kind of dispersion for Monte Carlos which disperses the orbit with classic orbital elements instead of cartesian postion and velocity.

  • Added a new module that provides the Earth atmospheric neutral density using the MSIS model.

  • Updated the Doxygen HTML documentation layout

Version 0.8.0

  • ADDED PYTHON 3 SUPPORT! This is a major step for Basilisk. Python 2 remains suppored, but is now treated as a depreciated capability. It is possible to compile BSK for P3 into a dist3 folder, and for P2 into a dist folder at the same time.

  • Updated the BSK installation notes to reflect a default installation using Python 3

  • Updated all unit test BSK scripts to work in both Python 2 and 3

  • Updated all tutorial scripts to work in both Python 3 and 2. Default instructions are now for Python 3

  • Added a new support file with tips on migrating a Python 2 BSK script to function in both Python 3 and 2. This is called Migrating BSK Scripts to Python 3.

Version 0.7.2

  • Added a new Earth magnetic field model based on the World Magnetic Model (WMM). The module has PDF documetnation, and extensive unit test within the source code folder, as well as a tutorial script demonstrating how to run this.

  • Updated the spice_interface module to be able to read in an epoch message

  • Updated scenarios to use the epoch message

  • Created a new support macro to convert a general date and time string into an epoch message

  • updated the VizInterface module to now provide the reaction wheel and thruster states to Vizard

  • Cleaned up VizInterface to only subscribe to BSK messages that are already created

  • Adjust simpleNav to only subscribe to the sun message it is already created

  • Update all the tutorial scenario and bskSim simulations to use the updated vizSupport.enableUnityVisualization method

  • Fixed and cleaned up bugs in heading and opnav UKFs, pixelLineConverter, houghCircles, and vizInterface

  • Added validity falg to OpNav messages in order to exclude potential measurements

  • Fixed camera orientation given the Unity camera frame definition

  • Updated BSK installation instructions to warn about not using swig v4

Version 0.7.1

  • Added a new plotting utility library to support interactive plotting using datashaders with Python3.

  • Fixed a garbage collecting leak in the monte carlo controller to minimize impact on computer memory.

Version 0.7.0

  • Added the enableViz method to the bskSim scnearios.

  • Added dvGuidance PDF module description

  • Added new orbital simulation tutorial on a transfer orbit from Earth to Jupiter using a patched-conic Delta_v

  • Added the first image processing FSW module using OpenCV’s HoughCirlces.

  • Added the a module to convert pixel/line and apparent diameter data from circle-finding algorithm to a OpNav message with relative position and covariance.

  • New faceted model for atmospheric drag evaluation

  • Updated RW and Thruster Simulation factory classes to use ordered dictionary lists. This ensures that the devices are used in the order they are added.

  • Fixed issue where the Viz would show a custom camera window on startup if playing back a data file from bskSim scenarios.

  • Added relative Orbit Determination filter (relativeODuKF) in fswAlgorithms/opticalNavigation. This filter reads measurements treated by the image processing block to estimate spacecraft position and velocity

  • Changed the C++ message ID to consitently be of type int64_t, not uint64_t

  • Rearchitected how data is retained in BSK monte carlo runs using Pandas. The python pandas package is now required to run MC runs.

  • Updated the CMake to handle both Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 and 2019

  • Added a new attitude control scenario that uses a cluster of thrusters to produce the required ADCS control torque.

Version 0.6.2

  • hot fix that adds back a missing method in sim_model.c/h that causes the enableViz support method to not work.

  • updated Viz_Interface module with opNavMode flag. This triggers logic to link Basilisk and Vizard with a TCP connection. This is ground work for closed loop visual navigation capabilities.

  • updated enableUnityViz python function in utilities/vizSupport. It now takes in key word arguments to simplify the user interface. It also reliably saves Vizard files for play back in the same directory as the scenario that calls it.

Version 0.6.1

  • Created a user guide MD file that is included in the BSK Doxygen HTML documentation.

  • Removed the BOOST library from Basilisk as it is no longer needed. This makes the BSK repository much leaner. Note that this removes the capability to communicate with the old Qt-based Visualization that is now defunct and replaced with the new Vizard Visualization.

  • Updated switch unscented kalman filter for sunline estimation with code cleanup and documentation updates.

  • updated pytest environment to have markers registered

  • added a PPTX support file that explains the core Basilisk architecture. HTML documentation is updated to link to this.

  • Creates new simulation module called planetEphemeris which creates a planet Spice ephemeris message given a set of classical orbit elements.

  • updated the thrMomentumDumping module to read in the thrMomentumManagement module output message to determine if a new momentum dumping sequence is required.

  • updated the hillPoint and velocityPoint scenarios on how to connect a planet ephemeris message.

  • updated hillPoint and velocityPoint to meet BSK coding guidelines

  • updated BSK_PRINT macro to automatically now add a new line symbol at the end of the message

Version 0.6.0

  • Added a new vizInterface module. This version is able to record a BSK simulation which can then be played back in the BSK Vizard visualization program. Vizard must be downloaded separately. To enable this capabilty, see the scenario tutorial files. scenariosBasicOrbit.py discusses how to enable this. The python support macro vizSupport.enableUnityVisualization() is commented out by default. Further, to compile vizInterface the CMake flags USE_PROTOBUFFERS and USE_ZEROMQ must be turned on. A new MD FAQ support file discusses the Cmake options.

  • Updated inertialUKF module documentation and unit tests.

  • Updated unit test and documentation of dvAccumulation.

  • added a small include change to fix BSK compiling on Windows

  • updated unit test and documentation of sunlineEphem()

  • updated cmake files to set the policy for CMP0086 required by Cmake 3.14.x and higher

  • updated thrForceMapping module after code review with new expansive unit tests and updated PDF documentation

Version 0.5.1

  • updated the orbitalMotion.c/h support library to have more robust rv2elem() and elem2rv() functions. They now also handle retrograde orbits. The manner in covering parabolic cases has changed slightly.

  • This module implements and tests a Switch Unscented Kalman Filter in order to estimate the sunline direction.

  • Added documentation to the dvAccumulation module and included proper time info in the output message.

  • Providing new support functions to enable the upcoming Vizard Basilisk Visualization.

  • updated the ‘oeStateEphem()’ module to fit radius at periapses instead of SMA, and have the option to fit true versus mean anomaly angles.

  • updated ‘sunlineSuKFmodule which provides a switch Sunline UKF estimation filter.  New documentation and unit tests.     </li>     <li>         updated 'MRP_Steering' module documentation and unit tests     </li>     <li>         updated orbital motion library functionsrv2elem()and elem2rv()

  • updated rateServoFullNonlinear module documentation and unit tests.

Version 0.5.0

  • attTrackingError has updated documentation and unit tests.

  • navAggregate module has new documentation and unit tests.

  • small FSW algorithm enhancements to ensure we never divide by zero

  • new unit test for RW-config data

  • included a new environment abstract class that creates a common interface to space environment modules like atmospheric density, or magnetic fields in the future. This currently implements the exponential model, but will include other models in the future. NOTE: this change breaks earlier simulation that used atmospheric drag. The old exponentialAtmosphere model usage must be updated. See the integrated and unit tests for details, as well as the module documentation.

  • added new documentation on using the new atmosphere module to simulate the atmospheric density and temperature information for a series of spacecraft locations about a planet.

  • updated documentation and unit tests of celestialTwoBodyPoint

  • added a new planetary magnetic field module. Currently it provides centered dipole models for Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. This will be expanded to provide convenient access to other magnetic field models in the future.

  • updated eulerRotation() to remove optional output message and did general code clean-up

  • updated mrpRotation(), new PDF documentation, did code cleanup, updated unit tests, removed optional module output that is not needed

  • updated MRP_Feedback(), new PDF documentation, did code cleanup, updated unit tests to cover all code branches.

  • Added a new tutorial on using the magnetic field model.

  • Updated mrpMotorTorque() with code cleanup, updated doxygen comments, PDF documentation and comprehensive unit test.

  • Added documentation to thrFiringRemainder module

  • Added documentation to thrFiringSchmitt module

  • Updated documentation of thrMomentumManagement module

  • Updated documentation of thrMomentumDumping module

  • Added documentation of MRP_PD module

  • added a new tutorial on how to use the planetary magnetic field model.

Version 0.4.1

  • cssComm has updated documentation and unit tests.

  • updated Documentation on rwNullSpace FSW module

  • updated how the FSW and Simulation modules are displayed with the DOxygen HTML documenation, as well as how the messages are shown. Now the use can click on the “Modules” tab in the web page to find a cleaner listing of all BSK modules, messages, utilities and architecture documentation.

  • modified the cmake file to allow the build type to be passed in from the command line

  • updated Doxygen documentation on cssWlsEst()

  • updated documentation and unit tests of cssComm() module

Version 0.4.0

  • Integrated the conan package management system. This requires conan to be installed and configured. See the updated Basilisk installation instructions. It is simple to add this to a current install. Further, the CMake GUI application can’t be used directly with this implementation if the app is double-clicked. Either the GUI is launched form a terminal (see macOS installation instructions), or cmake is run from the command line (again see your platform specific installation instructions). Using conan now enables BSK to be compiled with specific support packages, and will allow us to integrate other packages like OpenCV, Protobuffers, etc. into the near future in a flexible manner.

  • updated install instructions to allow for pytest version 4.0.0 or newer

  • updated code to remove some depreciated python function call warnings

  • Added a new sun heading module computed exclusively from ephemeris data and spacecraft attitude (sunlineEphem). Documentation and a unit test are included.

  • Added a new scenario that shows how to simulate multiple spacecraft in one simulation instance.

  • Added a spacecraftPointing module that allows a deputy spacecraft to point at a chief spacecraft. Besides that, added a scenario that demonstrates the use of this new module.

  • added the ability to the thrForceMapping FSW module to handle thruster saturation better by scaling the resulting force solution set.

  • Added lots of new unit tests to BSK modules

  • rwNullSpace() module now sets ups module states in reset() instead of crossInit(), and includes new documentation and unit tests

Version 0.3.3

  • Added a new message output with the CSS fit residuals. This is optional. If the output message is not set, then this information is not computed.

  • Updated sunSafePoint() to allow for a nominal spin rate to be commanded about the sun heading vector. The unit tests and module documentation is updated accordingly.

  • Added a new scenario scenarioAttitudeFeedbackNoEarth.py which illustrates how to do an attitude only simulation without any gravity bodies present.

  • Updated the macOS Basilisk installation instructions to make them easier to follow, and illustrate how to use the macOS provided Python along with all the Python packages installed in the user Library directory. This provides for a cleaner and easier to maintain Basilisk installation.

  • Created new switched CSS sun heading estimation algorithms called Sunline_SuKF and Sunline_SEKF. These switch between two body frames to avoid singularities, but with direct body rate estimation. Previous filters Sunline_UKF, Sunline_EKF, and OKeefe_EKF either subtract unobservability or difference sunheading estimate for a rate approximation.

  • Updated the Windows specific install instructions to include explicit steps for setting up and installing Basilisk on machine with a fresh copy of Windows 10.

  • Added policy statements to the CMake files. This now silences the warnings that were showing up in CMake 3.12 and 3.13

  • Modified CMake to silence the excessive warnings in XCode that register class is no depreciated in C++

Version 0.3.2

  • Fixed an issue with the eclipse unit test.

  • updated the installation instructions to warn about an incompatibility between the latest version of pytest (version 3.7.1). Users should use a version of pytest that is 3.6.1 or older for now until this issue is resolved.

  • Updated the .gitignore file to exclude the .pytest_cache folder that pytest generates with the newer versions of this program

Version 0.3.1

  • Tutorials added for BSK_Sim architecture. Added the ability to customize the frequency for FSW and/or dynamics modules.

  • Updated the dynamics thruster factor classes. This streamlines how thrusters can be added to the dynamics. Also, a new blank thruster object is included in this factory class to allow the user to specify all the desired values.

  • bskSim now adds 8 thrusters to the spacecraft. These are not used yet, but will be in future bskSim scenarios.

  • Modified how bskSim now includes CSS sensors in the spacecraft dynamics setup

  • Modified the FSW sunSafePoint() guidance module to read in the body angular velocity information from standard NavAttIntMsg. This will break any earlier simulation that uses sunSafePoint().

    • FIX: update the sunSafePoint() input connection to use the current message format.

  • Fixed an issue with energy not conserving if the fully coupled VSCMG imbalance model is used. This imbalanced gimbal and wheel version now conserves momentum and energy!

  • Added initial draft of VSCMG module documentation

  • Added documentation to all the bskSim scenarios inside src/test/bskSimScenarios. The documentation now outlines how the bskSim class can get setup and used to create complex spacecraft behaviors with little code.

Version 0.3.0

  • Updated cssWlsEst() module to also compute a partial angular velocity vector.

  • New FSW Guidance module mrpRotation() to perform a constant body rate rotation. The initial attitude is specified through a MRP set.

  • Enhanced Linux installation instructions

  • Updated the simIncludeThruster to use the same factor class as the RW factory class. This will break old scripts that use the old method of setting up Thrusters with this helper function.

    • FIX: Update the script to use the new factory class. Examples are seen in src/simulation/dynamics/Thrusters/_UnitTest/test_thruster_integrated.py.

  • Updated bskSim to use the RW factory class to setup the simulation RW devices, as well as to use fsw helper functions to setup the RW FSW config messages

  • At supportData/EphermerisData, updated the leap second kernel version to from 0011 to 0012.

  • Added a force and torque calculation method in the stateEffector abstract class, and provided the necessary method calls in spacecraft. This allows for stateEffectors to calculate the force and torque that they are imparting on the rigid body hub. The hingedRigidBodyStateEffector and the linearSpringMassDamper classes provide their implementation of these calculations.

  • Fixed an issue with extForceTorque effector where the flag about having a good input message was not being initialized properly. This caused a rare failure in the unit test.

  • Reaction wheel state effector has an updated friction model that allows the user to implement coulomb, viscous, and static friction.

  • Reaction wheel state effector now has max torque saturation logic in which the wheels can only implement a maximum wheel torque and max wheel speed saturation logic in which if the wheel speed goes over the maximum wheel speed, then the wheel torque is set to zero.

  • A new method called writeOutputStateMessages was added to the stateEffector abstract class which allows for stateEffectors to write their states as messages in the system and the states will always be written out to the system after integration. This fixed an issue with reaction wheels where the commanded torque information needs to be tasked before the spacecraft but the reaction wheel state messages need to be written out after integration.

  • A new dynamics class called spacecraftDynamics has been created. This allow multiple complex spacecraft systems to be either rigidly connected or free-flying. This allow for example a mother craft to house a daughter craft which has its own RWs, etc, and then release the daughter craft at a specified time.

  • Cleaned up the gravity effector class variable names, and streamlined the evaluation logic. The gravity effector documentation has been updated to include information on the the multi-body gravity acceleration is evaluated.

  • Updated the FSW modules MRP_Feedback,MRP_Steering, dvAccumulation and oeStateEphem to zero out the output message first in the Update() routine.

  • Fixed an issue with the RW factory class and the Stribeck friction model not being turned off by default.

  • added a new bskSim based tutorial scenario that illustrates a sun-pointing control while the spacecraft goes through a planets shadow.

Version 0.2.3 (June 12, 2018)

  • Improved how the fuelSloshSpringMassDamper effector class works. It is now renamed to LinearSpringMassDamper. It can be used to simulate both fuel sloshing, but also structural modes. If the LinearSpringMassDamper is connected to a fuel tank, then it’s mass depends on the amount of fuel left. The associated unit test illustrated how to setup this last capability. The module also contains documentation on the associated math.

  • A new SphericalPendulum effector class has been added. For rotations a spherical pendulum is a better approximation rotational fuel slosh. This effector can model rotational fuel slosh if connected to a tank (see unit test again), or it can model a torsional structural mode if not connected to a tank. Associated math documentation is included with the class.

  • The booleans useTranslation and useRotation have been removed from the HubEffector() class. The defaults in hubEffector for mass properties: mHub = 1, IHubPntBc_B = diag(1), and r_BcB_B = zeros(3), enable us to evaluate the same code no matter if the desire is only to have translational states, only rotational states, or both. This allows for less logic in hubEffector and removes possibility of fringe cases that result in unexpected results from a developer standpoint. The fix for if your python script is not working related to this change:

    • FIX: Remove any instances of useTranslation or useRotation defined in the hubEffector class.

  • Changed name of the method computeBodyForceTorque to computeForceTorque in the dynamicEffector abstract class and any inheriting classes. This avoids the confusion of thinking that only body frame relative forces can be defined, but in reality this class gives the ability to define both external forces defined in the body frame and the inertial frame.

  • Fixed an issue in RadiationPressure where the cannonball model was not computed in the proper frame. An integrated test has been added, and the unit test is updated. Note that the RadiationPressure model specification has changes slightly. The default model is still the cannonball model. To specify another model, the python methods setUseCannonballModel() or setUseFacetedCPUModel() are used. Note that these take no argument anymore.

    • FIX: remove the argument from setUseCannonballModel(true) and use the methods setUseCannonballModel() or setUseFacetedCPUModel() without any arguments instead.

Version 0.2.2 (May 14, 2018)

  • Fixed a build issues on the Windows platform is Visual Studio 2017 or later is used.

  • Unified the Coarse Sun Sensor (CSS) sun heading filtering modules to use the same I/O messages. All used messages are now in the fswMessage folder.

  • Made the CSS sun heading filter messages consistently use the CBias value. This allows particular sensors to have an individual (known) scaling correction factor. For example, if the return of one sensor is 10% stronger then that of the other sensors, then CBias is set to 1.10. Default value is 1.0 assuming all CSS units have the same gain.

  • The src\tests\bskSimScenarios folder now functions properly with the bskSim spacecraft class.

  • The tutorial scripts in src\tests\scenarios are now simplified to pull out the unit testing functionality. The unit testing is now down with the test_XXX.py scripts inside the src\tests\testScripts folder.

  • The bskSim tutorial files are now tested through pytest as well. The file testScripts\bskTestScript.py calls all the bskSim tutorial fails and ensures they run without error.

Version 0.2.1

  • Added messages for current fuel tank mass, fuel tank mDot, and thruster force and torque

  • Changed the linearAlgebra.c/h support library to avoid using any dynamic memory allocation.

  • Added some new function to linearAlgebra.c/h while making the library use the new BSK_PRINT() function.

  • Added ability to simulate noise to the RW devices.

  • Created a more complete spacecraft python simulation class called BSKsim, and recreated some BSK tutorial scripts to use BSKsim instead of the more manual spacecraft setup in the earlier scripts.

  • Developed general functions to add saturation, discretization and Gauss Markov processes to signals.

  • Created a new BSK_PRINT() function. Here the coder can tag a message as an ERROR, WARNING, DEBUG or INFORMATION status. The printout can be set to selectively show these print statements.

Version 0.2.0 (First public beta)

  • First open beta release of Basilisk

  • Moved to a new file architecture. This means older BSK python scripts need to be updated as the method to import BSK has changed.

  • The source an now be forked from Bitbucket

  • Precompiled binaries are provided through a python pip install wheel file.

  • The Doxygen documentation now pulls in the BSK module description PDF file and makes it available via the class definition html page.

  • The tutorial python scripts are now moved to src/test/scenarios

  • The pytest common should now be run within the src sub-directory

  • Updated fuel slosh model documentation

  • Updated fuel tank documentation

  • Adding noise and corruptions using a new utility to the BSK modules (in progress)

  • New N-panel hinged rigid body module

  • New 2-panel hinged rigid body module

  • Added CSS sun-heading estimation tutorial script

  • Added O’Keefe CSS sun-heading estimation module

Version 0.1.7

  • New Monte-Carlo capability that uses multiple cores and hyperthreading to accelerate the MC evaluations. Data is retained and stored for each MC run for robustness. See test_scenarioMonteCarloAttRW.py for an example.

  • Coarse Sun Sensor (CSS) modules can now scale the sensor output with the distance from the sun.

  • CSS now have updated documentation that includes validation results.

  • CSS, IMU have updated means to apply sensor corruptions.

  • IMU, simple_nav and star tracker modules have been updated to use now internally Eigen vectors rather than C-Arrays. NOTE: if you have simulation scripts that use these modules you may have to update the script to set sensor states as Eigen vectors from python.

  • All the dynamics, thruster and sensor simulation modules have expanded documentation and valdiation unit and integrated tests. The validation results are automatically included in the module TeX documentation.

Version 0.1.6

  • new unit tests to validate the multi-body gravity simulation code in SimCode/dynamics/gravityEffector/_UnitTest/test_gavityDynEffector.py

  • new hinged rigid body tutorial script in SimScenarios/test_scenarioAttGuideHyperbolic.py

  • new tutorial to do velicity frame pointing on a hyperbolic orbit in SimScenarios/test_scenarioHingedRigidBody.py

  • fixed various unit test issues that came up on the non-macOS builds

  • added reaction wheel effector documentation

  • added orb_elem_convert documentation

  • added boreAngCalc documentation

Version 0.1.5

  • Lots of new module documentation which includes a discussion of what is being modeled, the validation tests, as well as a user guide to the module. The new documentation includes:

    • Thruster DynEffector module

    • ephemeris conversion module

    • Coarse Sun Sensor module

    • Updated BSK module template documentation

    • Updated documentation for IMU Sensor module

    • Gravity Effector module

    • SimpleNav Sensor module

    • Hinged Panel StateEffector module

  • New tutorial scripts on

    • using CSS modules

    • using fuel tank module and the fuel slosh particle StateEffector

    • How to use MRP_Steering() along with the rate tracking sub-servo module

  • The CSS modules now use the planetary shadow message information to simulated being in a planet’s shadow

  • SRP DynEffector modules now simulates the impact of being in a planets shadow

  • Included a method to validate all the AVS C-Function libraries like rigidBodyKinematics, linearAlgebra and orbitalMotion when the Basilisk pytest command is called. There is also some documentation on using these libraries in /SimCode/utilitiesSelfCheck/_Documentation

  • Updated the RW and gravitational body (i.e. adding Earth, sun, etc. to the simulation) to use new factory classes. If you did use the older simIncludeRW.py or simIncludeGravity.py libraries, you’ll need to update your python code to work with the new factory classes.

Version 0.1.4

  • A planetary eclipse model has been added. This allows for the shadow of one or multiple planets to be taken into account, including the penumbra region. This module writes an output message indicating if the spacecraft is in full sun light, partial shadow, or full shadow of the sun.

  • The body-fixed spacecraft structure frame has now been removed from the simulation and flight algorithm codes. All spacecraft vectors and tensors are now set directly in the body frame B. If the spacecraft parameters are given in terms of an alternate structure frame, these vectors and tensor must be transformed into the body frame first before being set in BSK.

  • The integrated tutorial test for using a Python based BSK module now has some documentation.

  • Created a method to compute the orbital potential and angular momentum energy. This allows for the kinetic energy and angular momentum checks to flat-line even if the satellite is in orbit. The spherical harmonics of the planet are taken into account as well.

  • Included a new Extended Kalman Filter module that determines the body-relative sun heading using the CSS signals.

Version 0.1.3

  • There is a new capability to now write BSK modules in Python, and integrated them directly with the C and C++ BSK modules. Documentation is still in progress, but a sample is found in SimScenarios/test_scenarioAttitudePythonPD.py.

  • A new Variable Speed Control Moment Gyroscope (VSCMG) state effector module has been created. This module provides a torque-level VSCMG simulation which also includes the gyro frame or wheel being imbalanced. If the latter modes are engaged, the simulation does slow down noticeably, but you get the full physics.

  • In the simulation the initial spacecraft position and velocity states are now specified now using the spacecraft center of mass location C, not the body fixed point B. This greatly simplifies the simulation setup. Upon initialization, the sim determines what the true center of mass of the spacecraft is using all time varying mass components, and sets the proper B point position and velocity vectors.

  • Specifying the initial spacecraft position and velocity states can now be done anywhere before the BSK initialization. The user sets init versions of the position and velocity vectors. The setState() method on the state engine thus doesn’t have to be used.

  • There is a new initializeSimulationAndDiscover method to init the BSK simulation that automatically checks if messages are shared across multiple simulation threads. See the modified SimScenarios/test_scenarioAttitudeFeedback2T.py file for how this simplifies the dual-threaded setup.

  • The MRP_Steering and PRV_Steering FSW modules have been broken up into a separate kinematic steering command (commanded desired angular velocity vector) and an associated angular velocity servo module name rateServoFullNonlinear. This will break any existing code that used either of these two attitude steering modules. The Python simulation code must be updated to to account for these new modules as done in the MRP_Steering integrated test test_MRP_steeringInt.py.

Version 0.1.2

  • All unit and integrated tests now pass on Linux. The root issue was a variable length string variable in an output message. These strings have now been removed as they are no longer needed.

  • The position and velocity of the center of mass of the spacecraft was added to the messaging system, so now the spacecraft’s translational states can be logged by the center of mass of the spacecraft (r_CN_N and v_CN_N) or the origin of the body frame which is fixed to the hub (r_BN_N and v_BN_N). Additionally, the mass properties of the spacecraft was organized into an updateSCMassProps method that incapsulates the calculations of mass property calculations.

  • Updated UKF FSW module to be able to run on gryo only information when the star tracker is not available.

Version 0.1.1

  • On Linux, simplified the processing running BSK modules that require boost. This makes the Viz related communication modules working again.

  • Added boost libs built on Ubuntu against gcc 5.4.0 20160609.

  • Added RPATH settings to allow for build directory to be placed outside source directory

  • Major addition with new depleatable mass dynamic modeling, including some fuel tank dynamic models.

  • minor fix for Monte Carlo dispersions

Version 0.1.0

Simulation modules include:

  • Flexible integration structure with fixed time step RK1, RK2 and RK4 included
  • Rigid spacecraft simulated through spacecraftPlus() module. The spacecraft object makes it simple to add external disturbances through dynEffectors and state depended actuation through stateEffectors.
    • Dynamics Effectors (actuation methods which do not have their own states to integrate)
      • External force or torque module
      • Solar radiation pressure module
      • Thruster module
    • State Effectors (actuation methods which have states to integrate)
      • Fuel Tank model with fuel slosh particles
      • Hinged panel model to simulate flexing structures such as solar panels
      • Reaction wheel module with 3 modes (perfectly balanced, simple jitter with the disturbance modeled as an external force and torque, fully coupled imbalanced RW model)
  • RW voltage interface module that mapes an input voltage to a RW motor torque
  • integrate Spice ephemeris information
  • simple navigation module that produces the position and attitude measurement states
  • IMU sensor
  • Star Tracker module
  • Coarse Sun Sensor (CSS) module
  • Added the ability to simulate the gravity from multiple celestial objects, as well as include spherical harmonic expansion of a particular celestial body.

The AVS Lab Flight Algorithm folder contains:

  • FSW template module

  • CSS based sun heading estimation module

  • UKF filter to determine inertial attitude

  • UKF filter to determine CSS based body-relative sun heading

  • Attitude Guidance modules:

    • Pointing towards two celestial objects

    • Inertial Pointing

    • Hill Frame Pointing

    • Euler rotation sequence to add dynamics capabilities to the attitude reference generation

    • Spinning about an inertially fixed axis

    • A raster manager module that can change the guidance module states

    • Velocity frame pointing

    • attitude tracking error evaluation module

    • Deadband module for attitude tracking error

  • DV guidance module

  • Effector Interfaces:

    • mapping of control torque onto RW motor torques

    • Converting RW motor torques to voltages

    • RW null motion module to equalize the wheel speeds continuously

    • Thruster (THR) firing logic using a Schmitt trigger

    • THR firing logic using a remainder calculation

    • mapping of a command torque onto a set of THR devices

    • module to evaluate the net momentum to dump with thrusters