Sliding mode attitude and vibration control of flexible spacecraft with actuator dynamics

This paper presents a dual-stage control system design method for the three-axis-rotational maneuver control and vibration stabilization of a spacecraft with flexible appendages embedded with piezoceramics as sensor and actuator. In this design approach, attitude control system and vibration suppression were designed separately using lower order model. Based on the sliding mode control (SMC) theory, a discontinuous attitude control law in the form of the input voltage of the reaction wheel is derived to control the orientation of the spacecraft actuated by the reaction wheel, in which the reaction wheel dynamics is also considered from the real applications point of view. For actively suppressing the induced vibration, strain rate feedback control methods are presented by using piezoelectric materials as additional sensors and actuators bonded on the surface of the flexible appendages. Numerical simulations are performed to show that rotational maneuver and vibration suppression are accomplished in spite of the presence of disturbance torque and parameter uncertainty.