Vision-Based Relative Attitude Formation Tracking

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel vision-based control method for spacecraft formation that uses line-of-sight measurements to directly manage relative attitudes without full attitude reconstruction, achieving near-global asymptotic tracking.

Contribution

It presents a new control approach that bypasses full attitude estimation, improving efficiency and accuracy in relative attitude formation control for spacecraft.

Findings

Control system achieves near-global asymptotic tracking.

Method does not require full attitude reconstruction.

Numerical example demonstrates effectiveness.

Abstract

Relative attitude formation control systems are developed for multiple spacecraft, based on the line-of-sight measurements between spacecraft in formation. The proposed control systems are unique in the sense that they do not require constructing the full attitudes of spacecraft and comparing them to obtain the relative attitudes indirectly. Instead, the control inputs are directly expressed in terms of line-of-sight measurements to control relative attitude formation precisely and efficiently. It is shown that the relative attitudes almost globally asymptotically track their desired relative attitudes. The desirable properties are illustrated by a numerical example.