Partially Independent Control Scheme for Spacecraft Rendezvous in Near-Circular Orbits

TL;DR

This paper proposes a partially independent control scheme for spacecraft rendezvous in near-circular orbits, combining robust anti-windup and $H_{\infty}$ controllers to enhance stability and performance under environmental uncertainties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel control scheme that separates in-plane and out-of-plane control for improved robustness and efficiency in spacecraft rendezvous operations.

Findings

The scheme achieves robust stability under external perturbations.

Simulation results show advantages over coupled control schemes.

The approach effectively manages complex space environment dynamics.

Abstract

Due to the complexity and inconstancy of the space environment, accurate mathematical models for spacecraft rendezvous are difficult to obtain, which consequently complicates the control tasks. In this paper, a linearized time-variant plant model with external perturbations is adopted to approximate the real circumstance. To realize the robust stability with optimal performance cost, a partially independent control scheme is proposed, which consists of a robust anti-windup controller for the in-plane motion and a ${{H}_{\infty}}$ controller for the out-of-plane motion. Finally, a rendezvous simulation is given to corroborate the practicality and advantages of the partially independent control scheme over a coupled control scheme.