Distributed Constrained Control Allocation for Attitude Takeover of Combined Spacecraft

The properties of control allocation for attitude takeover of a failed spacecraft using nanosatellites are investigated in this paper. Since each nanosatellite with thrusters can only provide a two-axis torque on the combined system, multi-nanosatellites are distributed on different positions of the failed spacecraft to achieve three-axis attitude control. Considering there is no centralized node to calculate the allocation torque, a distributed optimization algorithm is developed. The proposed method can provide each nanosatellite with the optimal torque through communication with its neighbors, leading to energy consumption balance. The communication load is reduced using an event-triggering detector without Zeno Effect. Compared with the other two methods, the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated using attitude maneuver examples.