Distributed Attitude Consensus for Multiple Rigid Spacecraft under Jointly Connected Switching Topologies

Long Ma,Haibo Min,Shicheng Wang,Shouyi Liao,Zhiguo Liu

doi:10.1155/2016/2540914

Long Ma, Haibo Min + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/2540914

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Abstract

We study the distributed leader-following attitude consensus problem for multiple rigid spacecraft with a single leader under jointly connected switching topologies. Two cases are considered, where the first case is with a static leader and the second case is with a dynamic leader. By constructing an auxiliary vector and a distributed observer for each follower spacecraft, the controllers are designed to drive all the attitudes of the follower spacecraft to the leader’s, respectively, for both of the two cases, though there are some time intervals in which the communication topology is not connected. The whole system is proved to be stable by using common Lyapunov function method. Finally, the theoretical result is illustrated by numerical simulations.

Highlights

Spacecraft formation flying (SFF) has become a new technology that plays an important role in the future space missions, such as Earth Observing (EO) [1, 2], Orbit Express (OE), Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) [3], Space Telescope Assembly (STA), Stellar Imager (SI), and SyntheticAperture Imaging (SAI) [4]
We focus on the leader-following attitude consensus problem under jointly connected topologies, where the attitude of the leader is only available to a subset of the followers
The leader-following attitude consensus problem with a single leader under jointly connected topologies is studied for two different cases, that is, the regulation case with a static leader and the dynamic tracking case with a dynamic leader

Summary

Introduction

Spacecraft formation flying (SFF) has become a new technology that plays an important role in the future space missions, such as Earth Observing (EO) [1, 2], Orbit Express (OE), Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) [3], Space Telescope Assembly (STA), Stellar Imager (SI), and SyntheticAperture Imaging (SAI) [4]. Based on relative attitude information and Modified Rodriguez Parameters (MRPs), [14] considers cooperative attitude tracking problem and gives a control law in the presence of a dynamic communication topology. In [19], by utilizing Lyapunov direct method and choosing a common Lyapunov function properly, the robustness of the designed position and attitude coordinated controllers to communication delays, switching topologies, parameter uncertainties, and external disturbances is guaranteed. It is worth noting that [20] addresses the attitude synchronization problem of multiple rigid body agents in SO(3) with directed and jointly strongly connected interconnection topologies.

Problem Statement and Background Information

Main Results

Numerical Example

Conclusion