Optimal feedback based control for Mars entry trajectory tracking

The various uncertainties of Mars environment have great impact on the process of vehicles entering the atmosphere. To improve the robustness of control system against the model errors and to reduce the computational burden, an optimal feedback based tracking control law is developed. The control scheme presented in this paper determines the amplitude and the reversals of bank angle respectively in the longitudinal and lateral flight plane. At each control cycle, the amplitude of the bank angle is obtained by an optimal feedback controller to minimize tracking errors. The control gains are tuned according to the closed-loop error dynamics by using optimization methods. The bank reversals are executed if the crossrange exceeds a predetermined corridor which is designed by setting a boundary function. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed closed-loop optimal feedback based control law in tracking the reference trajectory is verified via 500 deviation simulations, in which modeling errors and external disturbances are considered.