Controllers´ design and verification based on the method of undetermined coefficients for satellite formation

This paper proposes a new method to design controllers for satellite formation flight. It begins with the construction of controlled relative motion dynamics along an undetermined maneuver trajectory (UMT). Then the relevant control law for this specified maneuver is deduced by substituting the states of the UMT into the relative motion dynamics. The novelty of this method lies that the design of maneuver control law is transformed into the design of a feasible maneuver trajectory which is described by a set of undetermined coefficients. Using this method one can obtain numerous maneuver control laws due to the fact that there are infinitely many feasible maneuver trajectories. A numerical simulation is carried out, and the results illustrate the effectiveness of the method developed in this paper.