Anti-disturbance attitude control of combined spacecraft with enhanced control allocation scheme

In this paper, we propose a novel anti-disturbance attitude control law for combined spacecraft with an improved closed-loop control allocation scheme. More specifically, a saturated approach is adopted to guarantee the global asymptotic stability under control input saturation. To enhance the robustness of the system, a nonlinear disturbance observer is constructed to compensate the disturbances caused by inertial parameter uncertainty and unmodeled dynamics. Next, the quadratic programming algorithm is used to obtain an optimal open-loop control allocation scheme, where both energy consumption and actuator saturation have been considered in the allocation of the virtual control command. Then, a modified closed-loop control allocation scheme is proposed to reduce the allocation error under the actuator uncertainty. Finally, stability analysis of the closed-loop system with the proposed allocation scheme is provided. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.     

Event-triggered adaptive control for attitude tracking of spacecraft

Plug-and-play technology is an important direction for future development of spacecraft and how to design controllers with less communication burden and satisfactory performance is of great importance for plug-and-play spacecraft. Considering attitude tracking of such spacecraft with unknown inertial parameters and unknown disturbances, an event-triggered adaptive backstepping controller is designed in this paper. Particularly, a switching threshold strategy is employed to design the event-triggering mechanism. By introducing a new linear time-varying model, a smooth function, an integrable auxiliary signal and a bound estimation approach, the impacts of the network-induced error and the disturbances are effectively compensated for and Zeno phenomenon is successfully avoided. It is shown that all signals of the closed-loop system are globally uniformly bounded and both the attitude tracking error and the angular velocity tracking error converge to zero. Compared with conventional control schemes, the proposed scheme significantly reduces the communication burden while providing stable and accurate response for attitude maneuvers. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Robust attitude coordinated control for spacecraft formation with communication delays

In this paper,attitude coordinated tracking control algorithms for multiple spacecraft formation are investigated with consideration of parametric uncertainties,external disturbances,communication delays and actuator saturation.Initially,a sliding mode delay-dependent attitude coordinated controller is proposed under bounded external disturbances.However,neither inertia uncertainty nor actuator constraint has been taken into account.Then,a robust saturated delay dependent attitude coordinated control law is further derived,where uncertainties and external disturbances are handled by Chebyshev neural networks (CNN).In addition,command filter technique is introduced to facilitate the backstepping design procedure,through which actuator saturation problem is solved.Thus the spacecraft in the formation are able to track the reference attitude trajectory even in the presence of time-varying communication delays.Rigorous analysis is presented by using Lyapunov-Krasovskii approach to demonstrate the stability of the closed-loop system under both control algorithms.Finally,the numerical examples are carried out to illustrate the efficiency of the theoretical results.     

Coordinated attitude control for flexible spacecraft formation with actuator configuration misalignment

This paper investigates the coordinated attitude control problem for flexible spacecraft formation with the consideration of actuator configuration misalignment. First, an integral-type sliding mode adaptive control law is designed to compensate the effects of flexible mode, environmental disturbance and actuator installation deviation. The basic idea of the Integral-type Sliding Mode Control (ISMC) is to design a proper sliding manifold so that the sliding mode starts from the initial time instant, and thus the robustness of the system can be guaranteed from the beginning of the process and the reaching phase is eliminated. Then, considering the nominal system of spacecraft formation based on directed topology, an attitude cooperative control strategy is developed for the nominal system with or without communication delay. The proposed control law can guarantee that for each spacecraft in the spacecraft formation, the desired attitude objective can be achieved and the attitude synchronization can be maintained with other spacecraft in the formation. Finally, simulation results are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.     

Stabilization of the attitude of a rigid spacecraft with external disturbances using finite-time control techniques

In this paper, we consider the attitude stabilization problem for a rigid spacecraft with external disturbances. To obtain a better disturbance rejection property, we employ finite-time control techniques. In the absence of disturbances, by employing continuous finite-time control method, a continuous finite-time controller is designed such that the attitude of the rigid spacecraft will converge to the origin in finite time. In the presence of disturbances, by employing terminal sliding mode method, a discontinuous finite-time control law is proposed such that the states will eventually converge to a small region of the origin, which can be rendered as small as desired. Numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of the method.     

Event-triggered and consensus-based attitude tracking alignment for discrete-time multiple spacecraft system exploiting interference

This paper presents a discrete-time attitude control strategy with equi-global practical stabilizability for aligning the attitude of multiple spacecraft to a predesigned configuration according to a time-variant reference. By utilizing the interference of the wireless channel, the communication scheme designed in this paper can save communication resources, amount of computation, and energy proportionally to the number of spacecraft. The exact discrete-time model and approximate discrete-time model of the consensus-based spacecraft tracking system are given. Then the framework for the design of an event-triggered control scheme for the exact discrete-time system via its approximate models is developed, which avoids the periodic actuation, and Zeno behavior is proved to be excluded. Furthermore, the control scheme can handle the presence of the unknown fading channel. Finally, simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control strategy.     

Autonomous attitude coordinated control for spacecraft formation with input constraint,model uncertainties,and external disturbances

To synchronize the attitude of a spacecraft formation flying system, three novel autonomous control schemes are proposed to deal with the issue in this paper. The first one is an ideal autonomous attitude coordinated controller, which is applied to address the case with certain models and no disturbance. The second one is a robust adaptive attitude coordinated controller, which aims to tackle the case with external disturbances and model uncertainties. The last one is a filtered robust adaptive attitude coordinated controller, which is used to overcome the case with input con- straint, model uncertainties, and external disturbances. The above three controllers do not need any external tracking signal and only require angular velocity and relative orientation between a spacecraft and its neighbors. Besides, the relative information is represented in the body frame of each spacecraft. The controllers are proved to be able to result in asymptotical stability almost everywhere. Numerical simulation results show that the proposed three approaches are effective for attitude coordination in a spacecraft formation flying system.     

Decentralized attitude synchronization tracking control for multiple spacecraft under directed communication topology

This paper studies the attitude synchronization tracking control of spacecraft formation flying with a directed communication topology and presents three different controllers. By introducing a novel error variable associated with rotation matrix, a decentralized attitude synchronization controller, which could obtain almost global asymptotical stability of the closed-loop system, is developed. Then, considering model uncertainties and unknown external disturbances, we propose a robust adaptive attitude synchronization controller by designing adaptive laws to estimate the unknown parameters. After that, the third controller is proposed by extending this method to the case of time-varying communication delays via Lyapunov–Krasovskii analysis. The distinctive feature of this work is to address attitude coordinated control with model uncertainties, unknown disturbances and time-varying delays in a decentralized framework, with a strongly connected directed information flow. It is shown that tracking and synchronization of an arbitrary desired attitude can be achieved when the stability condition is satisfied. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control schemes.     

柔性航天器振动主动抑制及姿态控制

针对柔性航天器柔性附件振动主动抑制及姿态高精度快速稳定问题,研究了一种输入成形器（IS）-自适应有限时间干扰观测器（FDO）-有限时间积分滑模控制器综合的设计方法。首先,基于柔性模态的频率及阻尼信息,获得能够有效抑制柔性振动的输入成形器形式,并与系统参考输入进行卷积,得到期望参考输入;其次,基于航天器动力学模型,设计一种新型的自适应有限时间干扰观测器,避免了综合干扰上界必须已知的约束,且保证干扰估计误差有限时间收敛至零,实现对干扰及残余振动影响的快速精确估计;最后,基于观测器的估计值,设计多变量有限时间积分滑模控制器,保证对期望参考输入的高精度快速跟踪控制,并进行严格的稳定性证明。仿真结果表明,该综合设计策略能够保证柔性附件振动抑制75%,姿态稳定度达到10^-4数量级。     

Adaptive finite-time backstepping control for attitude tracking of spacecraft based on rotation matrix

This paper investigates two finite-time controllers for attitude control of spacecraft based on rotation matrix by an adaptive backstepping method. Rotation matrix can overcome the draw- backs of unwinding which makes a spacecraft perform a large-angle maneuver when a small-angle maneuver in the opposite rotational direction is sufficient to achieve the objective, With the use of adaptive control, the first robust finite-time controller is continuous without a chattering phenom- enon. The second robust finite-time controller can compensate external disturbances with unknown bounds. Theoretical analysis shows that both controllers can make a spacecraft following a time-varying reference attitude signal in finite time and guarantee the stability of the overall closed-loop system. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control schemes.     

Discrete time multiple spacecraft formation flying attitude optimal control in presence of relative state constraints

This paper addresses the challenge of synchronized multiple spacecraft attitude reorientation in presence of pointing and boundary constraints with limited inter-spacecraft communication link. Relative attitude pointing constraint among the fleet of spacecraft has also been modeled and considered during the attitude maneuvers toward the desired states. Formation fling control structure that consists of decentralized path planners based on virtual structure approach joint with discrete time optimal local controller is designed to achieve the mission’s goals. Due to digital computing of spacecraft’s onboard computer, local optimal controller based on discrete time prediction and correction algorithm has been utilized. The time step of local optimal algorithm execution is designed so that the spacecraft track their desired attitudes with appropriate error bound. The convergence of the proposed architecture and stability of local controller’s tracking error within appropriate upper bound are proved. Finally, a numerical simulation of a stereo imaging scenario is presented to verify the performance of the proposed architecture and the effectiveness of the algorithm.     

Composite anti-disturbance position and attitude control for spacecrafts with parametric uncertainty and flexible vibration

The rendezvous and proximity operations with respect to a tumbling non-cooperative target pose high requirement for the position and attitude control accuracy of servicing spacecraft.However, multiple disturbances including parametric uncertainties, flexible vibration, and unknown nonlinear dynamics degrade the control performance significantly. In order to enhance the system anti-disturbance ability, this paper proposes a composite anti-disturbance control law for the spacecraft position and at...     

Fixed-time position coordinated tracking control for spacecraft formation flying with collision avoidance

In this paper, the fixed-time stability of spacecraft formation reconfiguration (position tracking) is studied. Firstly, a novel nonsingular terminal sliding mode surface is designed and based on which a fixed-time coordinated controller is designed to keep the closed-loop system states have a finite settling time bounded by some predefined constants. Secondly, another nonsingular terminal sliding mode surface is designed by combining the artificial potential function and the aforementioned sliding surface, which meets the mutual distance constraint during transition process among spacecraft when it is bounded. Then another coordinated controller with fixed-time observer considering mutual distance constraint is presented, which guarantees the closed-loop system states stable also in bounded settling time. Finally, simulation results are shown to validate the correctness of the proposed theorems. It is worth mentioning that the control schemes also work even though there is a properly limit on the control input.     

基于旋转矩阵的预设时间航天器编队姿态协同控制

由多个航天器组成的编队系统对复杂的环境往往具有较高的适应性和容错性,能更高效率地完成单航天器难以完成的任务。因此主要针对多航天器系统的姿态协同控制问题,提出一种基于旋转矩阵的预设时间控制算法。首先,为了避免航天器姿态建模的奇异性和模糊性问题,采用旋转矩阵对航天器的姿态进行统一描述,同时结合有向的通信拓扑对航天器姿态协同控制系统进行建模。其次,为赋予系统可控的收敛速度,提出一种基于滑模的预设时间控制算法。该算法的引入使得航天器编队系统的收敛时间可以在合理的范围内任意给定。此外,为了实现系统对参数摄动和外部干扰的鲁棒性,采用神经网络和自适应算法对不确定性进行在线估计与补偿。最后,通过理论分析和数值仿真验证了所提预设时间控制算法的有效性。     

Distributed fixed-time attitude coordinated control for multiple spacecraft with actuator saturation

This paper investigates the distributed fixed-time attitude coordinated control problem for multiple spacecraft subject to actuator saturation under the directed topology. First, a distributed fixed-time observer is presented for each follower spacecraft to estimate the leader spacecraft’s states. Compared with the commonly used fixed-time observer, the settling time of the proposed fixed-time observer can be easily adjusted by some free design parameters. Next, a distributed fixed-time control ...     

Observer-based control for the platform of a tethered space robot

This paper addresses the attitude control problem of a space tethered robot platform in the presence of unknown external disturbance caused by a connecting elastic tether. The tether-generated unknown disturbance leads to tremendous challenges for attitude control of the platform. In this work, the perturbed attitude dynamics of the platform are derived with a consideration of the libration of the elastic tether, and then with the purpose of compensating the unknown disturbance, major attention is dedicated to develop a nonlinear disturbance observer based on gyros measurements, after which, an adaptive attitude scheme is proposed by combining the disturbance observer with a sliding mode controller. Finally, benefits from the observer based on an adaptive controller are validated by series of numerical simulations.     

Local controllability and stabilization of spacecraft attitude by two single-gimbal control moment gyros

The attitude control problem of a spacecraft underactuated by two single-gimbal control moment gyros （SGCMGs） is investigated. Small-time local controllability （STLC） of the attitude dynamics of the spacecraft-SGCMGs system is analyzed via nonlinear controllability theory. The conditions that guarantee STLC of the spacecraft attitude by two non-coaxial SGCMGs are obtained with the momentum of the SGCMGs as inputs, implying that the spacecraft attitude is STLC when the total angular momentum of the whole system is zero. Moreover, our results indi- cate that under the zero-momentum restriction, full attitude stabilization is possible for a spacecraft using two non-coaxial SGCMGs. For the case of two coaxial SGCMGs, the STLC property of the spacecraft cannot be determined. In this case, an improvement to the previous full attitude stabilizing control law, which requires zero-momentum presumption, is proposed to account for the singu- larity of SGCMGs and enhance the steady state performance. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the new control law.     

空间非合作航天器抓捕后姿态抗干扰控制

针对空间非合作航天器抓捕后存在未知不确定惯性参数的柔性组合体姿态稳定控制问题,基于中间状态观测器设计方法提出了一种新的姿态稳定抗干扰控制方法,同时考虑了诸多扰动及控制输入受限问题。研究结果表明,传统的姿态稳定控制方法需要已知柔性航天器惯性参数信息及状态信息,上述信息未知情况下会使姿态难以高精度稳定控制,且容易导致控制输入不满足受限要求。针对该问题,考虑控制输入幅值及变化率受限前提,提出了一种基于中间状态观测器的抗干扰控制方法,通过引入辅助变量构造新型中间状态观测器,同时估计组合体状态信息及综合干扰,设计出了一种新的组合体姿态稳定抗干扰控制器。通过Lyapunov稳定性分析方法证明了所设计的控制器能够保证闭环系统的全局渐近稳定性。相比于已有的混合H₂/H_∞控制器,所提出的抗干扰控制器在应用时不需要柔性组合体的姿态及模态信息,并且也不需要惯性参数的辨识过程。最后,通过给定参数进行仿真对比,进一步验证了所设计控制器的有效性和优越性。     

航天器有限时间自适应姿态跟踪容错控制

非刚体航天器存在时变的惯量、执行器完全失效或衰退故障以及外界干扰的情况,提出一种有限时间自适应姿态跟踪容错控制方法。首先,基于有限时间理论和自适应方法,设计惯量不确定性自适应估计项和外界干扰参数自适应估计项进行系统补偿,克服惯量不确定性和抑制外界干扰;然后,基于容错控制和双幂次方法,设计一种自适应有限时间姿态跟踪容错控制算法,并且利用Lyapunov稳定性理论证明所提算法能够保证航天器姿态跟踪系统实际有限时间稳定;最后,对仿真结果进行验证。结果表明:所提有限时间姿态跟踪容错控制方法是有效的。     

Robust image-based coordinated control for spacecraft formation flying

This paper addresses a coordinated control problem for Spacecraft Formation Flying (SFF). The distributed followers are required to track and synchronize with the leader spacecraft. By using the feature points in the two-dimensional image space, an integrated 6-degree-of-freedom dynamic model is formulated for spacecraft relative motion. Without sophisticated three-dimensional reconstruction, image features are directly utilized for the controller design. The proposed image-based controller can drive the follower spacecraft in the desired configuration with respect to the leader when the real-time captured images match their reference counterparts. To improve the precision of the formation configuration, the proposed controller employs a coordinated term to reduce the relative distance errors between followers. The uncertainties in the system dynamics are handled by integrating the adaptive technique into the controller, which increases the robustness of the SFF system. The closed-loop system stability is analyzed using the Lyapunov method and algebraic graph theory. A numerical simulation for a given SFF scenario is performed to evaluate the performance of the controller.