Finite‐time attitude control of multiple rigid spacecraft using terminal sliding mode

This paper investigates the control problem of finite‐time attitude synchronization and tracking for a group of rigid spacecraft in the presence of environmental disturbances. A new fast terminal sliding manifold is developed for multiple spacecraft formation flying under the undirected graph topology. On the basis of the finite‐time control and adaptive control strategies, two novel decentralized finite‐time control laws are proposed to force the spacecraft attitude error dynamics to converge to small regions in finite time, and adaptive control is applied to reject the disturbance. The finite‐time convergence and stability of the closed‐loop system can be guaranteed by Lyapunov theory. Simulation examples are provided to illustrate the feasibility of the control algorithm. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distributed attitude synchronization control for multiple flexible spacecraft without modal variable measurement

This paper solves the attitude synchronization and tracking problem for a group of flexible spacecraft without flexible‐mode variable measurement. The spacecraft formation is studied in a leader‐following synchronization scheme with a dynamic virtual leader. With the application of adaptive sliding‐mode control technique, a distributed modified Rodriguez parameters‐based dynamic controller is proposed for flexible spacecraft without requiring modal variable measurement. It is proved that the attitude synchronization and tracking can be achieved asymptotically under the control strategy through the Lyapunov's stability analysis. Furthermore, a distributed robust continuous control algorithm is designed to guarantee the ultimate boundedness of both the attitude tracking error and the modal variable observation error when bounded external disturbances exist. Some numerical simulation examples for multiple flexible spacecraft formation are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Sliding-Mode-Based Attitude Tracking Control of Spacecraft Under Reaction Wheel Uncertainties

The attitude tracking operations of an on-orbit spacecraft with degraded performance exhibited by potential actuator uncertainties (including failures and misalignments) can be extraordinarily challenging. Thus, the control law development for the attitude tracking task of spacecraft subject to actuator (namely reaction wheel) uncertainties is addressed in this paper. More specially, the attitude dynamics model of the spacecraft is firstly established under actuator failures and misalignment (without a small angle approximation operation). Then, a new non-singular sliding manifold with fixed time convergence and anti-unwinding properties is proposed, and an adaptive sliding mode control (SMC) strategy is introduced to handle actuator uncertainties, model uncertainties and external disturbances simultaneously. Among this, an explicit misalignment angles range that could be treated herein is offered. Lyapunov-based stability analyses are employed to verify that the reaching phase of the sliding manifold is completed in finite time, and the attitude tracking errors are ensured to converge to a small region of the closest equilibrium point in fixed time once the sliding manifold enters the reaching phase. Finally, the beneficial features of the designed controller are manifested via detailed numerical simulation tests.      

Decentralised finite-time attitude synchronisation and tracking control for rigid spacecraft

The problem of finite-time attitude synchronisation and tracking for a group of rigid spacecraft nonlinear dynamics is investigated in this paper. First of all, in the presence of environmental disturbance, a novel decentralised control law is proposed to ensure that the spacecraft attitude error dynamics can converge to the sliding surface in finite time; then the final practical finite-time stability of the attitude error dynamics can be guaranteed in small regions. Furthermore, a modified finite-time control law is proposed to address the control chattering. The control law can guarantee a group of spacecraft to attain desired time-varying attitude and angular velocity while maintaining attitude synchronisation with other spacecraft in the formation. Simulation examples are provided to illustrate the feasibility of the control algorithm presented in this paper.     

Robust adaptive fixed‐time tracking control of 6‐DOF spacecraft fly‐around mission for noncooperative target

The fixed‐time relative position tracking and attitude synchronization control problem of a spacecraft fly‐around mission for a noncooperative target in the presence of parameter uncertainties and external disturbances is investigated. Firstly, a novel and coupled relative position and attitude motion model for a noncooperative fly‐around mission is established. Subsequently, a novel nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode (NFTSM) surface is developed, and the explicit estimation of the convergence time independent of initial states is provided. Fair and systematic comparisons among several typical terminal sliding modes show that the designed NFTSM has faster convergence performance than the fast terminal sliding mode. Then, a robust integrated adaptive fixed‐time NFTSM control law with no precise knowledge of the mass and inertia matrix and disturbances by combining the nonsingular terminal sliding mode technique with an adaptive methodology is proposed, which can eliminate the chattering phenomenon and guarantee that the relative position and attitude tracking errors can converge into the small regions containing the origin in fixed time. Finally, numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control schemes.     

Synchronization and Tracking of Multi‐Spacecraft Formation Attitude Control Using Adaptive Sliding Mode

This paper presents the finite‐time attitude synchronization and tracking control method of undirected multi‐spacecraft formation with external disturbances. First, a modified adaptive nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode surface (ANFTSMS) is designed by introducing a user‐defined function, both of which avoid the singularity problem and continuous sliding surface, and, therefore, can freely adjust relative weighting between angular velocity error and attitude error adaptively, such that the controller can provide sufficient maneuvers and precision. This provides designers with a new technique to adjust and improve formation control performance. Second, by applying the ANFTSMS associated with adaptation, two proposed decentralized ANFTSM‐controllers provide finite‐time convergence, robustness to disturbance, and chattering free for continuous design. Finally, simulation results validate the proposed algorithms.     

多航天器系统分布式固定时间输出反馈姿态协同跟踪控制

针对角速度信息不可测条件下的多航天器系统姿态协同跟踪控制问题,提出一种基于积分滑模的分布式固定时间姿态协同跟踪控制方法.基于bi-limit齐次性理论设计一种新型的固定时间收敛的积分滑模面.为估计出不可测的航天器信息,提出一种固定时间观测器,同时为减少航天器间的通信信息流,引入滑模估计器估计领航者的姿态信息.结合固定时...     

飞轮安装偏差的过驱动航天器有限时间姿态控制

针对反作用飞轮安装存在偏差的过驱动航天器姿态跟踪问题, 提出一种有限时间姿态补偿控制策略. 通过设计自适应滑模控制器保证实现对不确定性转动惯量与外部干扰的鲁棒控制, 同时实现对飞轮安装偏差的补偿控制, 并应用Lyapunov 稳定性理论证明了该控制器能够在有限时间内实现姿态跟踪控制. 最后, 将该控制器应用于某型航天器的姿态跟踪控制, 仿真结果验证了所提出方法的有效性.     

Nonsingular terminal sliding mode based finite-time control for spacecraft attitude tracking

This paper studies finite-time attitude tracking control problem of a rigid spacecraft system with external disturbances and inertia uncertainties. Firstly, a new finite-time attitude tracking control law is designed using nonsingular terminal sliding mode concepts. In the absence and presence of external disturbances and inertia uncertainties, this controller can drive the attitude and angular velocity tracking errors to reach zero in finite time. Secondly, a finite-time disturbance observer is introduced to estimate the disturbance, and a composite controller is developed which consists of a feedback control based on nonsingular terminal sliding mode method and compensation term based on finite-time disturbance observer. Finite-time convergence of attitude tracking errors and the stability of the closed-loop system is ensured by the Lyapunov approach. Numerical simulations on attitude control of spacecraft are also given to demonstrate the performance of the proposed controllers.     

Distributed fault‐tolerant control design for spacecraft finite‐time attitude synchronization

This paper develops two distributed finite‐time fault‐tolerant control algorithms for attitude synchronization of multiple spacecraft with a dynamic virtual leader in the presence of modeling uncertainties, external disturbances, and actuator faults. The leader gives commands only to a subset of the followers, and the communication flow between followers is directed. By employing a novel distributed nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode and adaptive mechanism, a distributed finite‐time fault‐tolerant control law is proposed to guarantee all the follower spacecraft that finite‐time track a dynamic virtual leader. Then utilizing three distributed finite‐time sliding mode estimators, an estimator‐based distributed finite‐time fault‐tolerant control law is proposed using only the followers' estimates of the virtual leader. Both of them do not require online identification of the actuator faults and provide robustness, finite‐time convergence, fault‐tolerant, disturbance rejection, and high control precision. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to evaluate the theoretical results. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive finite‐time attitude stabilization for rigid spacecraft with actuator faults and saturation constraints

The attitude stabilization problem for rigid spacecraft in the presence of inertial uncertainties, external disturbances, actuator saturations, and actuator faults is addressed in this paper. First, a novel fast terminal sliding mode manifold is designed to avoid the singularity problem while providing high control ability. In addition, fast terminal sliding mode control laws are proposed to make the spacecraft system trajectory fast converge onto the fast terminal sliding mode surface and finally evolve into small region in finite time, which cannot be achieved by the previous literatures. Based on the real sliding mode context, a practical adaptive fast terminal sliding mode control law is presented to guarantee attitude stabilization in finite time. Also, simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the control strategies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite‐Time Sliding Mode Trajectory Tracking Control of Uncertain Mechanical Systems

The problem of finite‐time tracking control is studied for uncertain nonlinear mechanical systems. To achieve finite‐time convergence of tracking errors, a simple linear sliding surface based on polynomial reference trajectory is proposed to enable the trajectory tracking errors to converge to zero in a finite time, which is assigned arbitrarily in advance. The sliding mode control technique is employed in the development of the finite‐time controller to guarantee the excellent robustness of the closed‐loop system. The proposed sliding mode scheme eliminates the reaching phase problem, so that the closed‐loop system always holds the invariance property to parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. Lyapunov stability analysis is performed to show the global finite‐time convergence of the tracking errors. A numerical example of a rigid spacecraft attitude tracking problem demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

Inverse optimal sliding mode control of spacecraft with coupled translation and attitude dynamics

This paper proposes two robust inverse optimal control schemes for spacecraft with coupled translation and attitude dynamics in the presence of external disturbances. For the first controller, an inverse optimal control law is designed based on Sontag-type formula and the control Lyapunov function. Then a robust inverse optimal position and attitude controller is designed by using a new second-order integral sliding mode control method to combine a sliding mode control with the derived inverse optimal control. The global asymptotic stability of the proposed control law is proved by using the second method of Lyapunov. For the other control law, a nonlinear H_∞ inverse optimal controller for spacecraft position and attitude tracking motion is developed to achieve the design conditions of controller gains that the control law becomes suboptimal H_∞ state feedback control. The ultimate boundedness of system state is proved by using the Lyapunov stability theory. Both developed robust inverse optimal controllers can minimise a performance index and ensure the stability of the closed-loop system and external disturbance attenuation. An example of position and attitude tracking manoeuvres is presented and simulation results are included to show the performance of the proposed controllers.     

Attitude synchronization control for a group of flexible spacecraft

To solve the problem of attitude synchronization for a group of flexible spacecraft during formation maneuvers, a distributed attitude cooperative control strategy is investigated in this paper. Based on the backstepping design and the neighbor-based design rule, a distributed attitude control law is constructed step by step. Using cascaded systems’ theory and graph theory, it is shown that the attitude synchronization is achieved asymptotically and the induced vibrations by flexible appendages are simultaneously suppressed under the proposed control law.     

Distributed fixed‐time attitude coordination control for multiple rigid spacecraft

In this paper, the fixed‐time attitude coordination control for multiple rigid spacecraft under an undirected communication graph is investigated. By using the backstepping technique, the distributed fixed‐time observer, and the method of “adding a power integrator,” a distributed fixed‐time attitude coordination control law is designed for a group of spacecraft. The proposed control scheme is nonsingular and can guarantee a group of rigid spacecraft simultaneously tracking a common desired attitude within fixed time even when the time‐varying reference attitude is available only to a subset of the group members. Rigorous analysis is provided to show that the attitude consensus tracking errors can converge to the origin in finite time which is bounded by a fixed constant independent of initial conditions. Numerical simulations are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control law.     

刚体航天器姿态跟踪的高阶滑模控制器设计

针对存在参数不确定性和外加干扰的刚体航天器的姿态跟踪控制问题,提出一种基于高阶滑模的姿态跟踪控制方法．首先介绍高阶滑模控制的基本原理,并建立基于修正罗德里格参数描述的航天器数学模型;然后采用李雅普诺夫第２法推导出高阶滑模姿态控制律．理论分析和仿真结果均表明,该方法能够有效消除系统抖振,实现航天器姿态跟踪的精确定位,并且系统具有全局稳定性和鲁棒性．     

Adaptive Fault‐Tolerant Attitude Tracking Control of Rigid Spacecraft on Lie Group with Fixed‐Time Convergence

This paper investigates the fixed‐time attitude tracking problem for rigid spacecraft in the presence of inertial uncertainties, external disturbances, actuator faults, and input saturation constraints. The logarithm map is first utilized to transform the tracking problem on SO(3) into the stabilization one on its associated Lie algebra ( ). A novel nonsingular fixed‐time‐based sliding mode is designed, which not only avoids the singularity but also guarantees that the convergence time of tracking errors along the sliding surface is independent of the state value. Then, an adaptive fault‐tolerant control law is constructed, in which an online adaptive law is incorporated to estimate the upper boundary of the lumped uncertainties. The combined control scheme enforces the system state to reach a neighborhood of the sliding surface in the sense of the fixed‐time concept. The key feature of the resulting control scheme is that it can accommodate actuator failures under limited control torque without the knowledge of fault information. Numerical simulations are finally performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fixed‐time controllers.     

基于动态滑模控制的挠性航天器姿态控制

本文采用滑动模态控制方法对挠性航天器设计了姿态镇定控制律.首先,建立了挠性航天器的数学模型.其中,挠性航天器的运动学方程采用姿态四元数描述.然后,通过引入动态切换函数,设计挠性航天器的动态滑模姿态控制律.该控制律能对滑模姿态控制律中由符号函数项引起的抖振进行抑制.采用Lyapunov方法证明了所设计的动态滑模姿态控制律能使闭环航天器姿态系统稳定.最后,通过数值仿真例子验证了所提出方法的有效性.     

转动惯量存在不确定性的挠性航天器滑模姿态控制

在转动惯量存在不确定性时,采用滑动模态控制方法对挠性航天器设计了姿态镇定控制律.由于挠性模态是不可量测的,首先设计了部分状态观测器对挠性模态进行估计.进而结合滑模控制方法,提出了基于观测器的滑模姿态控制律.采用Lyapunov方法证明了在存在转动惯量不确定性时,所设计的滑模姿态控制律能使闭环航天器姿态系统稳定.最后,通过数值仿真例子验证了所提出方法的有效性.     

Intelligent tracking control of a dual‐arm wheeled mobile manipulator with dynamic uncertainties

This paper presents an intelligent control approach that incorporates sliding mode control (SMC) and fuzzy neural network (FNN) into the implementation of back‐stepping control for a path tracking problem of a dual‐arm wheeled mobile manipulator subject to dynamic uncertainties and nonholonomic constraints. By using the back‐stepping technique, the system equations are reformulated into two levels: the kinematic level and the dynamic level. A sliding manifold is constructed by considering the disturbance free kinematic level equations only. With all the system uncertainties concentrated in the dynamic level, an FNN controller associated with a switching type of control law is employed to enforce sliding mode on the prescribed manifold. All parameter adjustment rules for the proposed controller are derived from the Lyapunov theory such that uniform ultimate boundedness for both the tracking error and the FNN weighting updates is ensured. A simulation study, which compares different control design approaches, is included to illustrate the promise of the proposed SMC–FNN method. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.