Decentralized sliding-mode control for attitude synchronization in spacecraft formation

• Main Authors: Wu, Baolin, Wang, Danwei, Poh, Eng Kee
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102473; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/16869
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper addresses attitude synchronization and tracking problems in spacecraft formation in the presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances. A decentralized adaptive sliding mode control law is proposed using undirected interspacecraft communication topology and analyzed based on algebraic graph theory. A multispacecraft sliding manifold is derived, on which each spacecraft approaches desired time-varying attitude and angular velocity while maintaining attitude synchronization with the other spacecraft in the formation. A control law is then developed to ensure convergence to the sliding manifold. The stability of the resulting closed-loop system is proved by application of Barbalat's Lemma. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed attitude synchronization and tracking methodology.