A Switching Strategy for Event-Trigger Control of Spacecraft Rendezvous

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel impulsive control strategy with a switching framework for spacecraft rendezvous, optimizing thruster activation while ensuring system stability through Lyapunov analysis.

Contribution

It develops a state-dependent switching control law for spacecraft rendezvous that minimizes actuation events and guarantees stability, using Lyapunov and LMI techniques.

Findings

The proposed control law is proven to be stable.

Numerical simulations demonstrate reduced thruster activations.

Comparative analysis shows advantages over standard MPC.

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a state-feedback control law for spacecraft rendezvous, formulated using the Hill-Clohessy-Wiltshire equations. The proposed method introduces an impulsive control strategy to regulate thruster operations. Specifically, a state-dependent switching framework is developed to determine both the control input magnitudes and the precise state conditions that trigger thruster activation. The nonlinear control law is derived using principles from automatic control theory, particularly Lyapunov stability analysis and the Linear Matrix Inequality framework. The resulting closed-loop system is proven to be stable, while simultaneously minimizing the total number of actuation events. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through a numerical case study, which includes a comparative analysis with a standard Model Predictive Control scheme, highlighting the advantages and trade-offs of the developed control structure.