Minimum sliding mode error feedback control for fault tolerant small satellite attitude control

This paper proposes a new control strategy (which we call “minimum sliding mode error feedback control, MSMEFC”) for small satellite attitude control. As we know, the attitude control algorithm plays a significant role in the whole performance of the satellite, especially under the existence of uncertain disturbances from the space. Without loss of generality, the MSMEFC is presented based on the sliding mode theory. It is assumed that the equivalent control error is defined to offset the uncertain disturbances to improve the control performance. Hence, in order to estimate the optimal equivalent control error, a cost function is derived on the basis of the principle of minimum sliding mode error. Then, the equivalent control error wills feedback to the conventional sliding mode control to obtain the final MSMEFC. According to the theoretical analyzes, the sliding mode after the MSMEFC will approximate to the ideal sliding mode, resulting in enhancing the control performance. Moreover, an adaptive non-singular terminal sliding mode is employed to compare with the performance of MSMEFC. Several simulations are performed to verify the effectiveness of proposed MSMEFC in the presence of serious perturbations, even in some fault-tolerant scenarios.