PDE model-based boundary control of a spacecraft with double flexible appendages under prescribed performance

This paper investigates a boundary control scheme of a spacecraft with double flexible appendages under prescribed performance. The flexible spacecraft system comprises a rigid central hub and two flexible appendages regarded as continuum models, so that the motion of the system can be portrayed by using partial differential equations (PDEs). In this paper, only one control torque and two control forces are applied to guarantee the desired attitude angle of the spacecraft and simultaneously suppress the vibration of the two flexible appendages. Moreover, the angle tracking error of the spacecraft can be restricted in a small residual set under a minimum convergence rate by adopting the prescribed performance technique (PPT). The stability of the boundary control is analyzed by employing LaSalle’s invariance principle. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed controller is verified through numerical results.