Fully Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Attitude Synchronization for a Team of Heterogenous Minisatellites

In this paper, the fault-tolerant attitude synchronization control problem for a team of heterogeneous minisatellites is addressed, subject to multiple actuator faults and uncertainties in the satellite dynamics. A fully distributed adaptive fault-tolerant controller, completely independently of the knowledge of the global information, is proposed to achieve the desired attitude synchronization. The attitude tracking error of the global closed-loop control system is proven to converge into a given neighborhood of the origin ultimately. Simulation results are given to validate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed adaptive controller for the heterogeneous satellite formation flying team, against the influence of actuator faults and uncertainties.