doi:10.3850/978-981-08-7723-1_P202


Three Dimensional Attitude Control of an Underactuated Satellite with Thrusters


Yasuhiro Yoshimura1,a, Takashi Matsuno1,b and Shinji Hokamoto2

1Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Graduate course of Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan.

ay-yas@aero.kyushu-u.ac.jp
bchu@aero.kyushu-u.ac.jp

2Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.

hokamoto@aero.kyushu-u.ac.jp

ABSTRACT

This paper deals with the three-dimensional attitude control of an underactuated satellite equipped with thrusters whose force directions are fixed with respect to the satellite. Using the wz-parameters for a satellite's attitude expression, this paper proposes a nonholonomic attitude controller which is effective for any satellites regardless of its moment of inertia. Although thrusters generate unilateral forces, three thrusters placed in a parallel configuration can control the satellite’s threedimensional attitude motion. Numerical simulation is shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller. Furthermore, the efficiency of a controller for different thruster positions is also discussed.

Keywords: Attitude control, Nonlinear control, Thruster, Nonholonomic constraints, Unilateral inputs.



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