Reorientation of a Small Spacecraft under Severe Actuator Efficiency Degradation Using Sliding Mode Control

This paper addresses the synthesis of control laws for the reorientation of a small nanosatellite spacecraft of the Cube- Sat standard in the case of severe degradation of actuator efficiency. Severe degradation (or reduction of efficiency) of actuators refers to a condition where the control torque generated by the actuator is reduced to 5 % of its maximum value under nominal operating conditions. The angular motion model accounts for gravitational, aerodynamic, and disturbance torques. The spacecraft reorientation problem is solved for the case of degradation in two control  channels using  sliding mode control. An original nonlinear sliding surface is used for the synthesis of the control laws. During the problem-solving process, quasi-adaptive and adaptive control laws were obtained, and their performance was compared using mathematical modelling. А quasi-adaptive control law is understood as a law in which the coefficients of the sliding surface are constant but depend on the initial angular velocity. An adaptive control law, on the other hand, is one in which the coefficients of the sliding surface change according to predefined differential equations. For adjusting the two coefficients of the sliding surface, an approach based on experimentally derived relationships between these two coefficients and the initial angular velocity was proposed and implemented. Based on the results of the numerical simulations, it can be concluded that the adaptive control law provides a shorter solution time compared to the quasi-adaptive control law. The quasi-adaptive law, however, is simpler to implement, as it does not require the adaptation of the coefficients.

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