Robust and Precision Satellite Formation Flying Guidance Using Adaptive Optimal Control Techniques

Abstract: The main focus of the work presented in this thesis is to develop an optimal control based formation flying control strategy for high precision formation flying of small satellites that have restricted computation and storage capacity. Using the recently developed model predictive static programming (MPSP), and Generalized MPSP algorithm a suboptimal guidance logic is presented for the formation flying of small satellites. The proposed guidance scheme is valid both for high eccentricity chief satellite orbits as well as the large separation distance between the chief and deputy satellites. Comparative study with standard Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) solution (which serves as a guess solution for MPSP) and another nonlinear controller, Finite-time State-Dependent Ricatti Equation (SDRE) reveals that MPSP guidance achieves the objective with higher accuracy and with a lesser amount of control usage.