Decentralized Electromagnetic Formation Flight Using Alternating Magnetic Field Forces

This article presents a decentralized formation control strategy for electromagnetic formation flight (EMFF). A primary control challenge of EMFF is the coupling that occurs between the electromagnetic fields generated by all satellites. Alternating magnetic field forces (AMFF) are used to address these coupling challenges. Each satellite’s electromagnetic actuation system is driven by a sum of amplitude-modulated sinusoids, where the amplitudes are optimally designed to prescribe the average intersatellite force between each satellite pair while minimizing control effort. The communication structure is a connected undirected graph, where each satellite relies on relative-position and relative-velocity feedback of neighboring satellites. The controller is designed based on an average dynamic model, which is used to provide necessary and sufficient conditions for formation control.