Linear parameter-varying gain-scheduled preview-based robust attitude control design for a staring-mode satellite

Abstract

It is challenging to precisely control the attitude of a satellite when performing a fast and large-angle maneuver, for instance, in the staring mode. To solve this issue, this paper investigates a gain-scheduled preview-based robust attitude control method in the framework of linear parameter-varying control theory. Firstly, the linear parameter-varying model of an observation satellite with large-angle rotations is developed by choosing the attitude angles as scheduling parameters to take the dynamics variation into consideration. In order to ease the implementation in practical engineering applications, the structure of the linear parameter-varying controller is in the form of modified proportional-integral-derivative control. To simultaneously satisfy the requirements of fast rotational speed and high dynamic tracking performance, a gain-scheduled proportional-integral-derivative controller is designed with the future information of desired attitude signals included in the feedforward path. The proposed controller is synthesized within the framework of H∞ robust control to enhance the robustness against inaccurate previewed information and external disturbances. The corresponding control synthesis condition is derived as an optimization problem with linear matrix inequality constraints. Monte Carlo simulation results demonstrate that the dynamic tracking accuracy of the proposed control algorithm can be guaranteed to be less than 0.01 deg in the face of fast large-angle commands, inaccurate previewed information and external disturbances.