Decentralized sliding-mode control for attitude synchronization in spacecraft formation

This paper addresses attitude synchronization and tracking problems in spacecraft formation in the presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances. A decentralized adaptive sliding mode control law is proposed using undirected interspacecraft communication topology and analyzed based on algebraic graph theory. A multispacecraft sliding manifold is derived, on which each spacecraft approaches desired time-varying attitude and angular velocity while maintaining attitude synchronization with the other spacecraft in the formation. A control law is then developed to ensure convergence to the sliding manifold. The stability of the resulting closed-loop system is proved by application of Barbalat's Lemma. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed attitude synchronization and tracking methodology. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.