Flexible satellite attitude maneuver via constrained torque distribution and active vibration suppression

Time efficient attitude maneuver for a flexible satellite containing a main rigid body with some flexible appendages is studied in this paper. For the rigid body, an ideal braking curve is designed based on a constrained torque distribution algorithm and the satellite is forced to track this curve. To reduce the influence of the flexible appendages, a corresponding state feedback control scheme is adopted to stabilize the vibration modal. Considering that the variation mode are always unmeasurable, an observer is constructed to estimate the flexible state. Moreover, a shape input or time delay controller is designed with the utilization of piezoelectric actuator. The stability of the closed-loop system is analyzed using Lyapunov method and the effectiveness has been verified through practical numerical examples. Simulation results show that the controller provides smooth control torque, time efficiency, high control precision and the vibration can be suppressed by the designed input shaper.