Sliding mode control and control allocation for Electromagnetic Formation Flying

This paper focuses on the nonlinear control and control allocation issue for Electromagnetic Formation Flying satellites. Firstly, the exact electromagnetic force model and nonlinear relative motion model are introduced. Secondly, the authors present a sliding mode control for the relative translational control, which can achieve better performance in the presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances, and the stability is also analyzed by using Lyapunov function. Then, the control allocation problem is investigated, and a direct allocation method is adopted for the allocation of magnetic moment. Finally, a formation keeping scenario is simulated to validate the proposed controller and control allocation method.