An Adaptive Control Methodology for Spacecraft Attitude Tracking Under Model and Environmental Uncertainties

This study investigates the attitude tracking problem for rigid spacecraft under model and environmental uncertainties. Two different control laws are separately developed and combined. First, based on a nominal attitude dynamic model assuming no uncertainty, the first controller is developed that exactly tracks a prespecified attitude reference trajectory with minimized control cost. The designer can generate this reference to prescribe desired performance specifications such as the maximum convergence time and overshoot. Next, an uncertain attitude dynamic system is considered, and the second controller is designed and added so that the controlled system can successfully track the predesigned reference trajectory with a user-specified tolerance even subject to uncertainty whose bounds are unknown. Compared to existing adaptive control schemes, the proposed approach possesses a very simple structure with a small number of control parameters and is not computationally intensive, making it more attractive for practical implementation. The proposed control laws generate smooth control signals and any information about the uncertainty bound is not needed in its design. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the practical feasibility of the proposed approach, where reorientation/slew maneuvers of a large spacecraft are considered. The effects of limitations on the control torques are also investigated to show the effectiveness of the control methodology developed herein.