Fixed-time control for free-floating space manipulators with prescribed constraints and input saturation

Abstract

Abstract This paper investigates the issue of tracking control for a free-floating space manipulator with prescribed performance constraints, considering the inertia uncertainties, internal disturbances and input saturation. An inherently continuous adaptive controller is proposed by incorporating non-singular fixed-time sliding mode control, prescribed performance control (PPC), and auxiliary compensation. First, a modified non-singular fast fixed-time terminal sliding surface is constructed, which has a shorten convergence time than the conventional fixed-time sliding surface. Unlike the existing complicated PPCs, a simple structure controller is developed to satisfy prescribed performance constraints through a unique tangent-type PPC technique. The input saturation is then compensated adaptively by an auxiliary mechanism. The Lyapunov theory thoroughly validates the stability and fixed-time convergence of the closed-loop tracking system. With the suggested control scheme, the system states can converge quickly to a small neighbourhood around the origin within a preassigned time, while the position tracking error can be confined within a prescribed performance bounds even in the presence of input saturation. Compared to the existing tracking methods, the suggested control approach has the advantages of faster transient convergence, higher steady-state tracking precision, and stronger robustness. Simulation comparisons demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed controller.