Vibration suppression of flexible spacecraft during attitude maneuvers

An approach for reducing vibration of flexible spacecraft during attitude maneuver was described. It was observed that the new approach integrated the method of component synthesis vibration suppression (CSVS) and the technique of positive position feedback (PPF) control with the lead zirconate titanate (PZT) sensors and actuators. It was also observed that using the pulse-width pulse-frequency (PWPF) modulation for thruster control, the CSVS method could be extended to the system with on-off actuators and can suppress the relatively large amplitude vibrations excited by rapid maneuvers. The simulation results showed that the new approach significantly reduced the vibration of the flexible appendages during maneuver operations.