Dynamic event-triggered attitude synchronization of multi-spacecraft formation via a learning neural network control approach

Abstract

This paper addresses the robust attitude synchronization issue in a multi-spacecraft formation system subjected to limited communication, space disturbances, modeling uncertainties, and actuator faults. To accommodate limited inter-spacecraft communication, a dynamic event-triggered mechanism is designed to reduce the communication trigger frequency by dynamically adjusting the trigger threshold. Moreover, an event-based distributed self-learning neural-network control (SLN2C) law is developed to guarantee robust attitude synchronization during multi-spacecraft formation. In the SLN2C scheme, a learning radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) model is proposed to online approximate and compensate for lumped disturbances, in which an iterative learning algorithm with a variable learning intensity is adopted to update the weight matrix of the RBFNN model. Compared with the traditional fixed learning intensity, a variable one can reduce initial oscillation and weaken the saturation response. Numerical simulations and comparisons are performed to illustrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed event-based spacecraft attitude synchronization control method.