Fixed-Time Coordinated Attitude Control for spacecraft formation flying via event-triggered and delayed communication

Abstract

This article tackles the challenge of achieving fixed-time coordinated attitude control for spacecraft formation flying when dealing with event-triggered and delayed communication. First and foremost, we introduce a fixed-time observer that leverages event-triggered, time-delayed information to enable follower spacecraft to access the leader’s commands within a directed, switching topology. In particular, the observer possesses the ability to effectively mitigate the impact of communication delays on information propagation. Following this, a fixed-time controller that empowers each follower to precisely follow the leader’s trajectory while maintaining the formation configuration is devised. Ultimately, we validate the feasibility and superiority of the proposed algorithm through numerical simulations and practical spacecraft ground experiments conducted with planar air-floating robots.