Fault tolerant controller design to ensure operational safety in satellite formation flying

The paper addresses the problem of fault tolerant control design that has the same effect as implicit control system reconfiguration for satellite formation flying to increase operational safety as it is important for successful missions. Actuator and sensor degradation can be detrimental for formation precision in terms of satellite relative positions and attitudes. In this paper model reference adaptive control (MRAS) and quaternion based adaptive attitude control (QAAC) is proposed as alternatives to fault determination and isolation. The adaptive systems approach is simpler as it avoids explicit modelling, decision making and control redesign. Redundancy based solution is used to protect against sensor deficiencies. Simulations illustrate the efficiency of the adaptive systems implemented for the control of the position and attitude of a single craft.