Satellite Attitude Control Using Control Moment Gyroscopes

Kenedy Matiasso Portella,Róger Mateus Sehnem,Renan Rathis Sacco,Pedro Paglione,Leonardo Barros Da Luz,Lorenzzo Quevedo Mantovani,Wilcker Neuwald Schinestzki,Tarso Kraemer Sarzi Sartori

doi:10.5028/jatm.cab.1156

Abstract

In space missions, there is often a need for an attitude control system capable of maintaining the desired attitude. In situations that require agile and accurate responses, which also require large torques, control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) may be used. Control moment gyroscopes are high angular moment gyros mounted on gimbals and are responsible for changing the direction of the angular momentum vector, consequently generating the control torques. There are several linear and nonlinear techniques that can be employed in the design of control laws with the final choice being a compromise between simplicity, effectiveness, efficiency and robustness. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of control systems techniques with 4 CMGs in a pyramidal arrangement, either by using Linear Quadratic Tracker (LQT) with integral compensator or Exponential Mapping Control (EMC). A reference attitude will be defined to be traced in the presence of disturbance torques caused by the gravitational gradient.

Highlights

Satellites can perform various missions and, in some, such as monitoring or telecommunication, attitude control is critical and several techniques can be used in order to execute it, some of which are presented by Wie (2008)
The control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) are responsible for changing the direction of the angular momentum vector, generating the control torques, and they have been widely studied with different control methods
The results show that the two designs can perform very well, but Exponential Mapping Control (EMC) converges quicker towards the sub-optimal solution

Summary

Introduction

Satellites can perform various missions and, in some, such as monitoring or telecommunication, attitude control is critical and several techniques can be used in order to execute it, some of which are presented by Wie (2008). There is a wide field of studies in the development of new ways of acting for attitude control. Among the techniques already consolidated for missions that involve the need of agile and precise responses, such as monitoring, control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) mounted on gimbals can be used. The CMGs are responsible for changing the direction of the angular momentum vector, generating the control torques, and they have been widely studied with different control methods. Many linear methods are used, as presented by Tayebi et al (2017), who compared the performance of a linear-quadratic regulator (LQR) with a linear-quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) for a single gimbal CMG.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion