Neighboring Optimum Feedback Control Law for Earth-Orbiting Formation-Flying Spacecraft

Abstract

Thispaperdevelopsafeedbackcontrollawthatguaranteesneighboringfuel-optimalityofthereconfigurationofa formation of Earth-orbiting formation-flying spacecraft. It aims for the case in which a specific formation is to be achieved at a specific true anomaly. It guarantees neighboring fuel-optimality of such a reconfiguration maneuver, assuming that the formation evolves in the vicinity of an uncontrolled reference trajectory. It is in the semi-analytic form,as onlyone time-varyinggain matrixneedstobecomputed beforethe maneuver. Itallows afuel consumption/ formation accuracy tradeoff with the selection of only one scalar gain. Simulations compare the performance of this controller with the linear-quadratic regulator and the mean orbit elements controller in the context of a 1 km size formation reconfiguration. Simulations show that this neighboring optimum controller can perform the maneuver with better accuracy while spending as much or less propellant than the other controllers.