AN ESTIMATOR-BASED SLIDING-MODE CONTROL FOR MANEUVERING A FLEXIBLE SPACECRAFT

An estimator-based sliding-mode controller (ESMC) is discussed for a linear stochastic system with a known disturbance and is utilized in a flexible spacecraft for the reduction of residual vibration while allowing natural deflection during operation. By converting the tracking problem into a regulator problem, the ESMC minimizes the expected value of the guadratic objective function composed of errors which always remain in the intersection of sliding hypersurfaces. For the numerical evaluation to take place in a flexible with a flexible spacecraft, a large slewing maneuver strategy is devised, with a tracking model for the nominal trajectory. A start-coast-stop strategy for an economical maneuver is employed in conjunction with the input shaping technique. The performance and efficacy of the proposed control scheme are illustrated with a comparison of different maneuvering strategies.