On passivity-based control of flexible multibody nonlinear systems

Presents an overview of certain passivity-based control laws for a class of nonlinear multibody flexible space structures. The control laws presented achieve globally asymptotically stable large-angle closed-loop manoeuvres. The control laws use inherent passivity of such systems and are robust to unmodeled dynamics, parametric uncertainties, and, in some cases, certain actuator/sensor nonlinearities. Some results on trajectory tracking of rigid and flexible multibody space systems are also given.