Pointing Control of Spacecraft with a Single VSCMG using LPV Modeling Technique

Abstract

With only one VSCMG (Variable Speed Control Moment Gyro), it is impossible to realize complete attitude control of spacecraft, but pointing control can be realized. In this paper, we show that the pointing control problem of spacecraft with only one VSCMG can be described as an LPV (Linear Parameter-Varying) model, and construct an interesting GS (Gain-Scheduled) controller to solve this problem. The controller guarantees both overall stability and H2 performance for a whole operating range. Moreover, distinct Lyapunov solutions are applied to design this controller. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we present a numerical simulation to compare the proposed method to a conventional one.