New control strategies for underactuated tethered formation flight spacecraft

Soon Jo Chung, Jean Jacques E. Slotine, David W. Miller

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

We introduce a decentralized attitude control strategy that can dramatically reduce the usage of propellant, by taking full advantage of the physical coupling of the tether. Motivated by a controllability analysis, indicating that both spin-up and relative attitudes are fully controllable by the reaction wheels, we report the first propellant-free underactuated linear and nonlinear control results for tethered formation flying spacecraft. We take a nonlinear control approach to underactuated tethered formation flying spacecraft, whose lack of full state feedback linearizability, along with their complex nonholonomic behavior, characterizes the difficult nonlinear control problem. We introduce several nonlinear control laws that are more efficient in tracking time-varying trajectories than linear control. We also extend our decentralized control approach to underactuated tethered systems, thereby eliminating the need for any inter-satellite communication.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCollection of Technical Papers - AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference 2007
PublisherAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc.
Pages5207-5231
Number of pages25
ISBN (Print)1563479044, 9781563479045
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007
Externally publishedYes
EventAIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference 2007 - Hilton Head, SC, United States
Duration: Aug 20 2007Aug 23 2007

Publication series

NameCollection of Technical Papers - AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference 2007
Volume5

Other

OtherAIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference 2007
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHilton Head, SC
Period8/20/078/23/07

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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