This paper derives a distance-based formation control method to maintain the desired formation shape for spacecraft in a gravitational potential field. The method is an analogy of a virtual spring-damper mesh. Spacecr...This paper derives a distance-based formation control method to maintain the desired formation shape for spacecraft in a gravitational potential field. The method is an analogy of a virtual spring-damper mesh. Spacecraft are connected virtually by spring-damper pairs. Convergence analysis is performed using the energy method. Approximate expressions for the distance errors and control accelerations at steady state are derived by using algebraic graph representations and results of graph rigidity. Analytical results indicate that if the underlying graph of the mesh is rigid, the convergence to a static shape is assured, and higher formation control precision can be achieved by increasing the elastic coefficient without increasing the control accelerations. A numerical example of spacecraft formation in low Earth orbit confirms the theoretical analysis and shows that the desired formation shape can be well achieved using the presented method, whereas the orientation of the formation can be kept pointing to the center of the Earth by the gravity gradient. The method is decentralized, and uses only relative measurement information. Constructing a distributed virtual structure in space can be the general application area. The proposed method can serve as an active shape control law for the spacecraft formations using propellantless internal forces.展开更多
This paper considers the formation tracking problem under a rigidity framework, where the target formation is specified as a minimally and infinitesimally rigid formation and the desired velocity of the group is avail...This paper considers the formation tracking problem under a rigidity framework, where the target formation is specified as a minimally and infinitesimally rigid formation and the desired velocity of the group is available to only a subset of the agents. The following two cases are considered： the desired velocity is constant, and the desired velocity is timevarying. In the first case, a distributed linear estimator is constructed for each agent to estimate the desired velocity. The velocity estimation and a formation acquisition term are employed to design the control inputs for the agents, where the rigidity matrix plays a central role. In the second case, a distributed non-smooth estimator is constructed to estimate the time-varying velocity, which is shown to converge in a finite time. Theoretical analysis shows that the formation tracking problem can be solved under the proposed control algorithms and estimators. Simulation results are also provided to show the validity of the derived results.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61273351 and 61673390)
文摘This paper derives a distance-based formation control method to maintain the desired formation shape for spacecraft in a gravitational potential field. The method is an analogy of a virtual spring-damper mesh. Spacecraft are connected virtually by spring-damper pairs. Convergence analysis is performed using the energy method. Approximate expressions for the distance errors and control accelerations at steady state are derived by using algebraic graph representations and results of graph rigidity. Analytical results indicate that if the underlying graph of the mesh is rigid, the convergence to a static shape is assured, and higher formation control precision can be achieved by increasing the elastic coefficient without increasing the control accelerations. A numerical example of spacecraft formation in low Earth orbit confirms the theoretical analysis and shows that the desired formation shape can be well achieved using the presented method, whereas the orientation of the formation can be kept pointing to the center of the Earth by the gravity gradient. The method is decentralized, and uses only relative measurement information. Constructing a distributed virtual structure in space can be the general application area. The proposed method can serve as an active shape control law for the spacecraft formations using propellantless internal forces.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.61473240)
文摘This paper considers the formation tracking problem under a rigidity framework, where the target formation is specified as a minimally and infinitesimally rigid formation and the desired velocity of the group is available to only a subset of the agents. The following two cases are considered： the desired velocity is constant, and the desired velocity is timevarying. In the first case, a distributed linear estimator is constructed for each agent to estimate the desired velocity. The velocity estimation and a formation acquisition term are employed to design the control inputs for the agents, where the rigidity matrix plays a central role. In the second case, a distributed non-smooth estimator is constructed to estimate the time-varying velocity, which is shown to converge in a finite time. Theoretical analysis shows that the formation tracking problem can be solved under the proposed control algorithms and estimators. Simulation results are also provided to show the validity of the derived results.
