Finite-time fault-tolerant attitude tracking control for spacecraft without unwinding

This paper investigates the finite-time attitude tracking control problem for spacecraft in the presence of external disturbances and actuator faults. Two anti-unwinding attitude tracking control schemes have been proposed based on the rotation matrix and sliding mode control technology. Utilizing a fast terminal sliding mode surface, the first controller can fulfill the finite-time attitude tracking control task with disturbance rejection ability. The second controller can improve the system reliability when the actuator fault occurs. Rigorous mathematical analysis and proof concludes that the proposed controllers can make a spacecraft track the desired attitude command in finite time. Numerical simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers.