A Structure Simple Controller for Satellite Attitude Tracking Maneuver

This paper addresses a difficult problem of designing a control approach with simple structure to perform attitude tracking maneuver for rigid satellites. The satellite is subject to external disturbance torque and uncertain inertia parameters. An observer-based estimation law is first proposed to reconstruct the uncertain dynamics. It is shown that such estimation can be achieved with zero estimation error after finite time. A proportional-derivative (PD)-type controller including a classical PD control effort and a compensation control part is then presented. The compensation control is designed based on the estimated information, and applied to completely reject the uncertain dynamics. The closed-loop attitude tracking system is governed to be asymptotically stable. Moreover, the control performance can be achieved by tuning control gains in the theoretical framework of classic PD control theory. Simulation and experimental test are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the developed approach.