Formation Flight of Micro-Satellite Clusters
Abstract
One of the significant challenges to successful formation flight of spacecraft is maintenance of the formation, i.e., control of the motion of the individual spacecraft to maintain the overall formation. This includes both stabilization of a given formation and reconfiguring of the formation-While the dynamics and control a single spacecraft; is well understood, a formation of spacecraft effectively acts a deformable body due to control forces which restore it to its desired formation, As a deformable body, the formation is capable of exhibit complex dynamic behavior. Effective control strategies must exploit this behavior as well as the natural dynamics of the system to achieve goals such as formation error minimization and minimal fuel consumption during formation reconfiguration. An additional concern is the impact a decentralized control structure would have control algorithm design and formation controllability. Spacecraft dynamics are mechanical, meaning they admit a Lagrangian or Hamiltonian formulation. We have investigated the dynamics and control of formation flight by exploiting the mechanical structure of the dynamical systems in conjunction with proven methods of linearization and structured uncertainty. Our work built on previous analytical tools developed at Caltech, such as the energy-momentum method for assessing the stability of a mechanical system, as well as methodologies for control of mechanical systems. One important property of mechanical systems is the ability of small changes in the internal shape of the system to effect global motion of the system.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA405595
Entities
People
- Jerrold E. Marsden
- Richard M. Murray
Organizations
- California Institute of Technology