Adaptive finite-time fault-tolerant control for nano-satellite attitude tracking under actuator constraints

In this paper, a finite-time fault-tolerant control method is developed for attitude tracking of a nano-satellite with three magnetorquers and one reaction wheel in the presence of actuator faults, inertia uncertainties, external distribution, and actuator constraints. For this purpose, the modified non-singular fast terminal sliding mode control is used due to the ability of robustness against uncertainties and finite-time convergence. In this approach, the modified sliding surface variable is constructed based on angular velocity and attitude error to converge the attitude error to zero in a finite time. In addition, three adaptive parameters are employed to reduce the adverse effect of uncertain expressions and to track the attitude commands with high control accuracy. The adaptive parameters and sliding surface variable are used in the reaching phase of the controller to decrease the chattering phenomenon. The dynamics of adaptive parameters, with regard to the angular velocities of the nano-satellite and reaction wheel and the sliding surface variable, are obtained during the stability proof of the closed-loop system. Also, the finite-time convergence of sliding surface and attitude variables are proved by the extended Lyapunov condition, and the convergence regions of attitude tracking errors are obtained. The simulations are accomplished and compared with an existing adaptive sliding mode control approach to evaluate the performance of the proposed controller. The results verify that the proposed controller performs better than the mentioned controller in terms of finite-time convergence, the accuracy of attitude tracking, and the reduction of the chattering phenomenon.(c) 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.