Adaptive output feedback integral sliding mode attitude tracking control of spacecraft without unwinding

Abstract

This article studies an output feedback attitude tracking control problem for rigid spacecraft in the presence of parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. First, an anti-unwinding attitude control law is designed using the integral sliding mode control technique to achieve accurate tracking responses and robustness against inertia uncertainties and external disturbances. Next, the derived control law is combined with a suitable tuning law to relax the knowledge about the bounds of uncertainties and disturbances. The stability results are rigorously proved using the Lyapunov stability theory. In addition, a new finite-time sliding mode observer is developed to estimate the first time derivative of attitude. A new adaptive output feedback attitude controller is designed based on the estimated results, and angular velocity measurements are not required in the design process. A Lyapunov-based analysis is provided to demonstrate the uniformly ultimately bounded stability of the observer errors. Numerical simulations are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.