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Gimbaled-thruster based nonlinear attitude control of a small spacecraft during thrusting manoeuvre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2017

Farhad Fani Saberi ,
Mansour Kabganian ,
Hamed Kouhi  and
Morteza Shahravi
Farhad Fani Saberi*
Affiliation:
Space Science and Technology Institute, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Mansour Kabganian
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Hamed Kouhi
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Morteza Shahravi
Affiliation:
Space Research Institute, Tehran, Iran
*
f.sabery@aut.ac.ir
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Abstract

In this paper, a novel thrusting manoeuvre control scheme is proposed for a small spacecraft which is based only on the gimbaled thrust vector control (TVC) system. The spacecraft structure is composed of a body and a gimbaled thruster where common attitude control systems such as reaction control system (RCS) and spin stabilisation are not employed. A nonlinear two-body model is considered for the characterisation of the gimbaled-nozzle spacecraft where the gimbal actuator provides the only active control input. The spacecraft attitude is affected by a large exogenous disturbance torque which is generated by a thrust vector misalignment from the centre of mass (CM). To achieve some performance goals in the both transient and steady-state modes, a new control scheme is derived based on the combination of two linear and nonlinear controllers. The proposed method ensures the attitude and thrust vector stability during an impulsive orbital manoeuvre while eliminating and rejecting an exogenous disturbance torque. The numerical simulations illustrate the applicability of this method for using in a small spacecraft and its efficiency in sustained operation.

Keywords

impulsive orbital manoeuvrethrust vector misalignmentgimbaled thrusterdisturbance rejectionnonlinear attitude control
Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 121 , Issue 1241 , July 2017 , pp. 983 - 1004
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2017 

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