Prescribed-time spacecraft formation flying control with unknown disturbances by time-varying feedback

Abstract

This paper is concerned with prescribed-time control for spacecraft formation flying. Firstly, based on Lie group SE(3), the coupled 6-degrees-of-freedom kinematics and dynamics for leader and followers are modelled. Then, by using exponential coordinates of SE(3), the relative configuration between leader and followers is expressed and its linearised model is also given. Finally, by constructing a finite-time escape function and using the properties of parametric Lyapunov function, a novel time-varying high-gain controller is developed such that the spacecraft formation flying can be achieved within a finite time that can be explicitly prescribed. As a further result, the observer-based controller is also proposed for the same problem. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.