Backstepping Control Design with Actuator Torque Bound for Spacecraft Attitude Maneuver

A nonlinear backstepping attitude controller using the inverse tangent-based tracking function and a family of augmented Lyapunov functions is proposed. The bound is effectively used to tune the control parameters so that, for the given settling time specification, the upper bound of the control input is minimized. The spacecraft is assumed to be a rigid body and three mutually perpendicular axes fixed in the spacecraft define a body frame B with origin at the center of mass of the spacecraft. The spacecraft is assumed to be equipped with the actuators that can provide torques about the axes of the body frame B. The bounds for the control torque components are derived analytically as a function of the initial tracking error and the gains involved in the control design procedure. The proposed controller has been shown to perform adequately in the numerical simulations.