Adaptive attitude control of spacecraft using neural networks

An adaptive control technique can be applicable to reorient spacecraft with uncertain properties such as mass, inertial and various misalignments. A nonlinear quaternion feedback controller is chosen as a baseline attitude controller. A linearly added adaptive input supported by neural networks to the baseline controller can estimate and eliminate the uncertain spacecraft property adaptively. The normalized input neural networks (NINNs) are examined for reliable Computation of the adaptive input. The newly defined learning rules of the neural networks are established appropriately for a spacecraft. To prove the stability of the closed-loop dynamics with the control law, Lyapunov stability theory is considered. As a result, the proposed approach results in the uniform ultimate boundedness in tracking error and robustness of the chattering and the singularity problems. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.