Pose-Tracking Controller for Satellites with Time-Varying Inertia

Author(s)
Filipe, Nuno
Holzinger, Marcus J.
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Associated Organization(s)
Organizational Unit
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics was established in 1931, with a name change in 1962 to the School of Aerospace Engineering
Series
Supplementary to:
Abstract
Satellite proximity operations have been identified by NASA and the USAF as a crucial technology that could enable a series of new missions in space. Such missions would require a satellite to simultaneously and accurately track time-varying relative position and attitude profiles. Moreover, the mass and moment of inertia of a satellite are also typically time- varying, which makes this problem even more challenging. Based on recent results in dual quaternions, a nonlinear adaptive position and attitude tracking controller for satellites with unknown and time-varying mass and inertia matrix is proposed. Dual quaternions are used to represent jointly the position and attitude of the satellite. The controller is shown to ensure almost global asymptotic stability of the combined translational and rotational position and velocity tracking errors. Moreover, sufficient conditions on the reference motion are provided that guarantee mass and inertia matrix identification. The controller compensates for the gravity force, the gravity-gradient torque, Earth's oblateness, and unknown constant disturbance forces and torques. The proposed controller is especially suited for satellites with relatively high and quick variations of mass and moment of inertia, such as highly maneuverable small satellites equipped with relatively powerful thrusters and control moment gyros.
Sponsor
Date
2014-08
Extent
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Paper
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