Underactuated spacecraft angular velocity stabilization and three-axis attitude stabilization using two single gimbal control moment gyros

Angular velocity stabilization control and attitude stabilization control for an underactuated spacecraft using only two single gimbal control moment gyros （SGCMGs） as actuators is investigated. First of all, the dynamic model of the underactuated spacecraft is established and the singularity of different configurations with the two SGCMGs is analyzed. Under the assumption that the gimbal axes of the two SGCMGs are installed in any direction, and that the total system angular momentum is not zero, a state feedback control law via Lyapunov method is designed to globally asymptotically stabilize the angular velocity of spacecraft. Under the assumption that the gimbal axes of the two SGCMGs are coaxially installed along anyone of the three principal axes of spacecraft inertia, and that the total system angular momentum is zero, a discontinuous state feedback control law is designed to stabilize three-axis attitude of spacecraft with respect to the inertial frame. Furthermore, the singularity escape of SGCMGs for the above two control problems is also studied. Simulation results demonstrate the validity of the control laws.     

Chaotic attitude and reorientation maneuver for completely liquid-filled spacecraft with flexible appendage

The present paper investigates the chaotic attitude dynamics and reorientation maneuver for completely viscous liquid-filled spacecraft with flexible appendage. All of the equations of motion are derived by using Lagrangian mechanics and then transformed into a form consisting of an unperturbed part plus perturbed terms so that the system＇s nonlinear characteristics can be exploited in phase space. Emphases are laid on the chaotic attitude dynamics produced from certain sets of physical parameter values of the spacecraft when energy dissipation acts to derive the body from minor to major axis spin. Numerical solutions of these equations show that the attitude dynamics of liquid-filled flexible spacecraft possesses characteristics common to random, non- periodic solutions and chaos, and it is demonstrated that the desired reorientation maneuver is guaranteed by using a pair of thruster impulses. The control strategy for reorientation maneuver is designed and the numerical simulation results are presented for both the uncontrolled and controlled spins transition.     

Optimal reorientation of underactuated spacecraft using genetic algorithm with wavelet approximation

The optimal attitude control of an underactuated spacecraft is investigated in this paper. The flywheels of the spacecraft can somehow only provide control inputs in two independent directions. The dynamic equations are formulated for the spacecraft under a nonholonomic constraint resulting from the constant time-rate of the total angular momentum of the system. The reorientation of such underactuated spacecraft is transformed into an optimal control problem. A genetic algorithm is proposed to derive the control laws of the two flywheels angle velocity inputs. The control laws are approximated by the discrete orthogonal wavelets. The numerical simulations indicate that the genetic algorithm with the wavelet approximation is an effective approach to deal with the optimal reorientation of underactuated spacecraft.     

Attitude tracking control of flexible spacecraft with large amplitude slosh

This paper is focused on attitude tracking control of a spacecraft that is equipped with flexible appendage and partially filled liquid propellant tank. The large amplitude liquid slosh is included by using a moving pulsating ball model that is further improved to estimate the settling location of liquid in microgravity or a zero-g environment. The flexible appendage is modelled as a three-dimensional Bernoulli–Euler beam, and the assumed modal method is employed.A hybrid controller that combines sliding mode control with an adaptive algorithm is designed for spacecraft to perform attitude tracking. The proposed controller has proved to be asymptotically stable. A nonlinear model for the overall coupled system including spacecraft attitude dynamics,liquid slosh, structural vibration and control action is established. Numerical simulation results are presented to show the dynamic behaviors of the coupled system and to verify the effectiveness of the control approach when the spacecraft undergoes the disturbance produced by large amplitude slosh and appendage vibration. Lastly, the designed adaptive algorithm is found to be effective to improve the precision of attitude tracking.     

Attitude control of a rigid spacecraft with one variable-speed control moment gyro

Nonlinear controllability and attitude stabilization are studied for the underactuated nonholonomic dynamics of a rigid spacecraft with one variable-speed control moment gyro(VSCMG), which supplies only two internal torques.Nonlinear controllability theory is used to show that the dynamics are locally controllable from the equilibrium point and thus can be asymptotically stabilized to the equilibrium point via time-invariant piecewise continuous feedback laws or time-periodic continuous feedback laws. Specifically,when the total angular momentum of the spacecraft-VSCMG system is zero, any orientation can be a controllable equilibrium attitude. In this case, the attitude stabilization problem is addressed by designing a kinematic stabilizing law, which is implemented through a nonlinear proportional and derivative controller, using the generalized dynamic inverse(GDI)method. The steady-state instability inherent in the GDI controller is elegantly avoided by appropriately choosing control gains. In order to obtain the command gimbal rate and wheel acceleration from control torques, a simple steering logic is constructed to accommodate the requirements of attitude stabilization and singularity avoidance of the VSCMG. Illustrative numerical examples verify the efcacy of the proposed control strategy.     

The invariant manifold method and the controllability of nonlinear control system

The problem of controllability of nonlinear control system is a significant field which has an extensive prospect of application. A.M.Kovalev of Ukraine Academy of Science applied the oriented manifold method developed in dynamics of rigid body to nonlinear control system for the first time and obtained a series of efficient results. Based on Kovalev’s oriented manifold method, firstly, by invariant manifold method the problem of controllability of nonlinear control system was studied and the necessary condition of the controllability of a kind of affine nonlinear system was given out. Then the realization of the necessary condition was discussed. At last, the motion of a rigid body with two rotors was investigated and the necessary condition which is satisfied by this system was proved.     

Analytical method for the attitude stability of partially liquid filled spacecraft with flexible appendage

In this paper, the attitude stability of liquid-filled spacecraft with flexible appendage is investigated. The motion of liquid sloshing is modeled as the spherical pen-dulum, and the flexible appendage is approached by a linear shearing beam. Nonlinear dynamic equations of the coupled system are derived from the Hamiltonian. The stability of the coupled system was analyzed by using the energy-Casimir method, and the nonlinear stability theorem of the coupled spacecraft system was also obtained. Through numerical computation, the correctness of the proposed theorem is verified and the boundary curves of the stable region are presented. The increase of the angular velocity and flexible attachment length will weaken the attitude stability, and the change of the filled ratio of liquid fuel tank has a different influence on the stability of the coupled spacecraft, depend-ing on the different conditions. The attitude stability analysis of the coupled spacecraft system in this context is useful for selecting appropriate parameters in the complex spacecraft design.     

AIRSHIP ATTITUDE TRACKING SYSTEM

The attitude tracking control problem for an airship with parameter uncertainties and external disturbances was considered in this paper. The mathematical model of the airship attitude is a multi-input/multi-output uncertain nonlinear system. Based on the characteristics of this system, a design method of robust output tracking controllers was adopted based on the upper-bounds of the uncertainties. Using the input/output feedback linearization approach and Liapunov method, a control law was designed, which guarantees that the system output exponentially tracks the given desired output. The controller is easy to compute and complement. Simulation results show that, in the closed-loop system, precise attitude control is accomplished in spite of the uncertainties and external disturbances in the system.     

Robust attitude control for rapid multi-target tracking in spacecraft formation flying

A robust attitude tracking control scheme for spacecraft formation flying is presented. The leader spacecraft with a rapid mobile antenna and a camera is modeled. While the camera is tracking the ground target, the antenna is tracking the follower spacecraft. By an angular velocity constraint and an angular constraint, two methods are proposed to compute the reference attitude profiles of the camera and antenna, respectively. To simplify the control design problem, this paper first derives the desired inverse system （DIS）, which can convert the attitude tracking problem of 3D space into the regulator problem. Based on DIS and sliding mode control （SMC）, a robust attitude tracking controller is developed in the presence of mass parameter uncertainties and external disturbance. By Lyapunov stability theory, the closed loop system stability can be achieved. The numerical simulations show that the proposed robust control scheme exhibits significant advantages for the multi-target attitude tracking of a two-spacecraft formation.     

Combined control of fast attitude maneuver and stabilization for large complex spacecraft

In remote sensing or laser communication space missions, spacecraft need fast maneuver and fast stabilization in order to accomplish agile imaging and attitude tracking tasks. However, fast attitude maneuvers can easily cause elastic deformations and vibrations in flexible appendages of the spacecraft. This paper focuses on this problem and deals with the combined control of fast attitude maneuver and sta- bilization for large complex spacecraft. The mathematical model of complex spacecraft with flexible appendages and momentum bias actuators on board is presented. Based on the plant model and combined with the feedback controller, modal parameters of the closed-loop system are calculated, and a multiple mode input shaper utilizing the modal information is designed to suppress vibrations. Aiming at reducing vibrations excited by attitude maneuver, a quintic polynomial form rotation path planning is proposed with constraints on the actuators and the angular velocity taken into account. Attitude maneuver simulation results of the control systems with input shaper or path planning in loop are sepa- rately analyzed, and based on the analysis, a combined control strategy is presented with both path planning and input shaper in loop. Simulation results show that the combined control strategy satisfies the complex spacecraft＇s require- ment of fast maneuver and stabilization with the actuators＇ torque limitation satisfied at the same time.     

大型柔性航天器动力学与振动控制研究进展

随着航天重大工程的逐步实施,航天器正朝着超高速、超大尺度、多功能的方向发展,其面临的发射和运行环境也更加恶劣.航天器发射过程中的振动及其主/被动控制、在轨运行中大型柔性航天器动力学建模与动态响应分析、结构振动与飞行器姿态的混合控制等问题越来越复杂且难于处理;航天器结构的大型化和柔性化(如大阵面天线和太阳翼等)也对其地面试验和半实物仿真提出了挑战.本文着重介绍大型柔性航天器涉及到的动力学与振动控制问题,包括航天器发射过程中的整星隔振,大型柔性结构动力学建模与振动响应分析,大型柔性航天器的结构振动与姿轨控耦合动力学及其混合控制等.提炼出航天动力学与控制领域中亟待解决的若干基础科学问题,包括:多刚柔体系统动力学建模与模型降阶(涉及大变形柔性体动力学建模、多求解器合作仿真、模型降阶、组合结构动力学建模的解析方法等);复杂结构状态空间模型构建方法与能控性(涉及状态空间模型构建的理论与实验方法、复杂结构振动控制系统的能观性与能控性等);航天器姿态运动与大型柔性结构振动的混合控制律设计(涉及姿态机动与结构振动的鲁棒混合控制、执行机构与压电控制器的协同控制等).      

On the nonlinear stability of relative equilibria of the full spacecraft dynamics around an asteroid

The full dynamics of a spacecraft around an asteroid, in which the gravitational orbit–attitude coupling is considered, has been shown to be of great value and interest. Nonlinear stability of the relative equilibria of the full dynamics of a rigid spacecraft around a uniformly rotating asteroid is studied with the method of geometric mechanics. The non-canonical Hamiltonian structure of the problem, i.e., Poisson tensor, Casimir functions and equations of motion, are given in the differential geometric method. A classical kind of relative equilibria of the spacecraft is determined from a global point of view, at which the mass center of the spacecraft is on a stationary orbit, and the attitude is constant with respect to the asteroid. The conditions of nonlinear stability of the relative equilibria are obtained with the energy-Casimir method through the semi-positive definiteness of the projected Hessian matrix of the variational Lagrangian. Finally, example asteroids with a wide range of parameters are considered, and the nonlinear stability criterion is calculated. However, it is found that the nonlinear stability condition cannot be satisfied by spacecraft with any mass distribution parameters. The nonlinear stability condition by us is only the sufficient condition, but not the necessary condition, for the nonlinear stability. It means that the energy-Casimir method cannot provide any information about nonlinear stability of the relative equilibria, and more powerful tools, which are the analogues of the Arnold’s theorem in the canonical Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom, are needed for a further investigation.     

非自旋航天器混沌姿态运动及其参数开闭环控制

研究万有引力场中受大气阻力且存在结构内阻尼的非自旋航天器在椭圆轨道上平面天平动的混沌及其参数开闭环控制问题．在建立数学模型的基础上确定出现混沌的必要条件并数值验证混沌的存在性，提出非线性振动系统混沌运动的参数开闭环控制并应用于控制航天器的混沌姿态运动．