Spacecraft Vibration Suppression Using Variable Structure Output Feedback Control and Smart Materials

A hybrid control scheme for vibration reduction of flexible spacecraft during rotational maneuvers is investigated by using variable structure output feedback control (VSOFC) for attitude control and smart materials for active vibration suppression. The proposed control design process is twofold: design of the attitude controller using VSOFC theory acting on the hub and design of an independent flexible vibration controller acting on the flexible part using piezoceramics as sensors and actuators to actively suppress certain flexible modes. The attitude controller, using only the attitude and angular rate measurement, consists of a linear feedback term and a discontinuous feedback term, which are designed so that the sliding surface exists and is globally reachable. With the presence of this attitude controller, an additional independent flexible control system acting on the flexible parts is designed for further vibration suppression. Using the piezoelectric materials as actuator/sensor, both single-mode vibration suppression and multimode vibration suppression are studied and compared for the different active vibration control algorithms, constant-gain negative velocity feedback (CGNVF) control, positive position feedback (PPF) control, and linear-quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed approach can significantly reduce the vibration of the flexible appendages and further greatly improve the precision during and after the maneuver operations.