Adaptive robust attitude control and active vibration suppression of flexible spacecraft

Abstract

This paper presents the large angle attitude manoeuvre control design of a single-axis flexible spacecraft system that consists of a central rigid body and a cantilever beam with bonded piezoelectric sensor/actuator pairs as a flexible appendage. The proposed control strategy combines the attitude controller designed by the adaptive robust control technique with the active vibration controller designed by the positive position feedback control method. The desired angular position of the spacecraft is planned and an adaptive robust attitude control approach based on a projection type adaptation law is proposed to track the planned path and to achieve precise attitude manoeuvre control. Meanwhile, the positive position feedback control method is applied to actively increase the damping of the flexible appendage and to suppress the residual vibration induced by manoeuvre. Improved transient and steady state performance during and after large angle attitude manoeuvre can be both achieved by integration of the technical merits of all these control methods. Analytical and numerical results illustrate the effectiveness of this approach.