Attitude control and laser link acquisition strategy for a large-scale distributed satellite system with super long distance

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to establish the laser links between satellites among large-scale distributed satellite systems; a combined attitude control strategy containing two stages is proposed in this paper. Design/methodology/approach These two stages are: one is the attitude initial pointing control to change the attitude of satellite pointing to the other satellite based on the position information of each satellite; the other one is the high precision attitude tracking control to scan the uncertainty cone because the initial pointing control accuracy is not enough to establish the laser link. At the initial pointing control stage, a method to determine the target attitude of each satellite is presented based on the position information of each satellite, and the fuzzy adaptive control algorithm is used to control the satellites to its calculated attitude. Then, at the high precision attitude tracking control stage, a strategy for laser link acquisition and scanning the uncertainty cone by the lasers of the spacecraft is proposed, and an angular velocity tracking scanning controller is designed while the convergence of the attitude tracking error is ensured through Lyapunov–Krasovskii theory. Findings Simulations are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm, and the laser link for a large-scale distributed satellite system with super long distance is achieved through a combined attitude control strategy. Research limitations/implications A combined attitude control strategy is valid for a large-scale distributed satellite system with super long distance. Practical implications A combined attitude control strategy can be used to achieve laser link acquisition for a large-scale distributed satellite system like space gravitational wave detection. Originality/value A combined attitude control strategy can provide a way to solve the typical problem that pointing control accuracy is not enough to establish the laser link for a large-scale distributed satellite system.