Attitude-Orbit Coupled Control of Gravitational Wave Detection Spacecraft with Communication Delays

In order to meet the position and attitude requirements of spacecrafts and test masses for gravitational-wave detection missions, the attitude-orbit coordination control of multiple spacecrafts and test masses is studied. A distributed coordination control law for spacecraft formation based on dual quaternion is proposed. By describing the relationship between spacecrafts and test masses in the desired states, the coordination control problem is converted into a consistent-tracking control problem in which each spacecraft or test mass tracks its desired states. An accurate attitude-orbit relative dynamics model of the spacecraft and the test masses is proposed based on dual quaternions. A cooperative feedback control law based on a consistency algorithm is designed to achieve the consistent attitude tracking of multiple rigid bodies (spacecraft and test mass) and maintain the specific formation configuration. Moreover, the communication delays of the system are taken into account. The distributed coordination control law ensures almost global asymptotic convergence of the relative position and attitude error in the presence of communication delays. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method, which meets the formation-configuration requirements for gravitational-wave detection missions.