Design of space structure control systems using on-off thrusters

Abstract

The problem of designing control systems for large, flexible space structures is addressed for the case in which control actuation is by means of on-off thrusters. A direct synthesis procedure is suggested which is applicable to systems with dynamic models of any order using any number of thrusters. The design is based on an approximation to an optimal control formulation which minimizes a weighted combination of response time and fuel consumption. An example of the technique is given for the case of control of a flexible free-free beam using four thruster pairs.