Patent ID: 8528316

Claim:
A solid propellant gas control system, comprising: a solid propellant gas generator configured to generate and supply a propellant gas; a propellant state sensor configured to sense a parameter representative of propellant gas pressure and to supply pressure feedback signals representative of the sensed propellant gas pressure; a vehicle inertial motion sensor configured to sense a vehicle inertial characteristic and to supply vehicle inertial response signals representative of the sensed vehicle inertial characteristic; a plurality of reaction control valves in fluid communication with the propellant gas generator, each reaction control valve coupled to receive reaction control signals and responsive thereto to selectively move between a closed position and a full-open position; and a controller coupled to receive propellant gas pressure commands, vehicle thrust commands, the pressure feedback signals, and the vehicle inertial response signals, and configured, in response to these signals, to: (i) determine a propellant gas pressure error based on the propellant gas pressure commands and the pressure feedback signals, (ii) determine a thrust error based on the vehicle thrust commands and the vehicle inertial response signals, (iii) determine the reaction control signals based on the determined propellant gas pressure error and the determined thrust error, and (iv) supply the reaction control signals to the reaction control valves.