Trajectory tracking control for high-speed positioning of robotic telescope systems for optical UAV detection

This paper presents the design and experimental evaluation of a trajectory tracking control based on input-output linearization for high-speed slewing and downtime minimization of a robotic telescope system for optical UAV detection. The proposed control strategy combines a model-based state-feedback controller, a Luenberger observer and a reference generator, providing smooth reference trajectories for position, velocity and acceleration. The novel control system enables high-speed, longrange slewing without overshoot at a maximum angular velocity of 230 degrees per second with an RMS position error below 0.024 degrees (86.6 arcseconds) for the altitude axis and a maximum angular velocity of 105 degrees per second with an RMS position error below 0.012 degrees (41.6 arcseconds) for the azimuth axis. For a range of 180 degrees, the implementation results in a total slewing time of 2.3 seconds in altitude and 5.8 seconds in azimuth, enabling high-speed, high-precision positioning of the optical system.