Vibration suppression and adaptive-robust control of a smart flexible satellite with three axes maneuvering

In this paper the three axes slewing maneuver and the vibration suppression of a flexible spacecraft are studied. The satellite has a central rigid body and two flexible appendages. An adaptive-robust control scheme is used to achieve the satellite’s large angle trajectory tracking and suppress the vibration of the appendages. The appendages are considered as the Euler–Bernoulli beams, and the piezoelectric layers, which are attached to both sides of the appendages, are used as the actuators. For mathematical modeling, the Lagrange–Rayleigh–Ritz technique is utilized. The adaptive-robust control method is robust against parameter uncertainties and disturbances. The number of system parameters that are estimated by the adaptive law are reduced; this makes the proposed controller suitable for online control. Finally, the system behavior is simulated and the effects of varying parameters are studied. The simulation results show the excellent performance of the controller.