Sliding mode attitude control with L2-gain performance and vibration reduction of flexible spacecraft with actuator dynamics

This paper presents a dual-stage control system design method for the rotational maneuver control and vibration stabilization of a flexible spacecraft. In this design approach, the sub-systems of attitude control and vibration suppression are designed separately using the low order model. Based on the sliding mode control (SMC) theory, a discontinuous attitude control law in the form of the input voltage of the reaction wheel is derived to control the orientation of the spacecraft, incorporating the L2-gain performance criterion constraint. The resulting closed-loop system is proven to be uniformly ultimately bounded stability and the effect of the external disturbance on both attitude quaternion and angular velocity can be attenuated to the prescribed level as well. In addition, an adaptive version of the control law is designed for adapting the unknown upper bounds of the lumped disturbance such that the limitation of knowing the bound of the disturbance in advance is released. For actively suppressing the induced vibration, strain rate feedback control method is also investigated by using piezoelectric materials as additional sensors and actuators bonded on the surface of the flexible appendages. Numerical simulations are performed to show that rotational maneuver and vibration suppression are accomplished in spite of the presence of disturbance and uncertainty.