Guaranteed Cost Output Tracking Control for Autonomous Homing Phase of Spacecraft Rendezvous

This paper investigates the problem of robust guaranteed cost output tracking control for the homing phase of spacecraft rendezvous. Based on the Clohessy-Wiltshire (C-W) equations, and by simultaneously considering the practical situations such as parameter uncertainty, output tracking, performance cost and poles assignment, a new relative dynamic model is developed, and a robust guaranteed cost output tracking control problem is formulated. Then, by a Lyapunov approach, the existence conditions for admissible controllers are formulated in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), and the controller design is cast into a convex optimization problem subject to LMI constraints. With the obtained controllers, the homing phase can be completed with a guaranteed cost. An illustrative example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller design method. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0000085. (C) 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.