Research ArticleStability analysis of autonomous space systems in the presence of large disturbances: A Lyapunov-based constrained control strategy

- A class of autonomous space systems is considered in the presence of large disturbances.
- A Lyapunov-based constrained control strategy is proposed to deal with the angular rotations and the angular rates.
- A number of control approaches including the detumbling and the pointing are realized.
- A series of experiments is carried out with different scenarios to consider the strategy efficiency.

The research addresses a Lyapunov-based constrained control strategy to deal with the autonomous space system in the presence of large disturbances. The aforementioned autonomous space system under control is first represented through a dynamics model and subsequently the proposed control strategy is fully investigated with a focus on the three-axis detumbling and the corresponding pointing mode control approaches. The three-axis detumbling mode control approach is designed to deal with the unwanted angular rates of the system to be zero, while the saturations of the actuators are taken into consideration. Moreover, the three-axis pointing mode control approach is designed in the similar state to deal with the rotational angles of the system to be desirable. The contribution of the research is mathematically made to propose a control law in connection with a new candidate of Lyapunov function to deal with the rotational angles and the related angular rates of the present autonomous space system with respect to state-of-the-art. A series of experiments are carried out to consider the efficiency of the proposed control strategy, as long as a number of benchmarks are realized in the same condition to verify and guarantee the strategy performance in both modes of control approaches.