Roll-motion stabilizer design for a sounding rocket using the ADRC methodology

A high roll rate can decrease the chance of the research-oriented rocket mission success. There is scant information about the effective roll-motion stabilizer solutions for sounding rockets. Thus, a roll-motion stabilizer for a sounding rocket using the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) methodology is proposed. The presented roll-motion stabilizer is designed for a subsonic sounding rocket. An effectiveness of the designed control system was verified by simulations and experiments in a wind tunnel. Results of the verification show that the designed control system enables robust roll-motion stabilization despite large uncertainty of a rocket model. Practical guidelines for designing of the roll-motion stabilizer are provided.