Spacecraft Anti-Unwinding Attitude Control with Actuator Nonlinearities and Velocity Limit

The design of a stabilization control algorithm for spacecraft that accounts for actuator saturation, dead-zone nonlinearities, and a velocity limit to ensure a fast and accurate response is reported. This control algorithm is also designed to achieve effective compensation for external disturbances and parametric uncertainty. In addition, extensive simulations were performed using different actuator nonlinearities, disturbance inputs, and even random noise. These results showed that the attitude control and energy saving are accomplished despite these undesired effects in the system. Moreover, the flexibility in the choice of control parameters can be used to obtain desirable performance while meeting constraints on the control magnitude and velocity. These control approaches provide a theoretical basis for the practical application of the advanced control theory to spacecraft attitude control systems.