Attitude Control of a 2U Cubesat by Magnetic and Air Drag Torques

arXiv1707.04959MaRDI QIDQ6289062FDOQ6289062

Ilya Kolmanovsky, Richard Sutherland, Anouck R. Girard

Publication date: 16 July 2017

Abstract: This paper describes the development of a magnetic attitude control subsystem for a 2U cubesat. Due to the presence of gravity gradient torques, the satellite dynamics are open-loop unstable near the desired pointing configuration. Nevertheless the linearized time-varying system is completely controllable, under easily verifiable conditions, and the system's disturbance rejection capabilities can be enhanced by adding air drag panels exemplifying a beneficial interplay between hardware design and control. In the paper, conditions for the complete controllability for the case of a magnetically controlled satellite with passive air drag panels are developed, and simulation case studies with the LQR and MPC control designs applied in combination with a nonlinear time-varying input transformation are presented to demonstrate the ability of the closed-loop system to satisfy mission objectives despite disturbance torques.

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