Design of optimal controllers for spacecraft formation flying based on the decentralized approach

Formation controller for multiple spacecrafts is designed based on a decentralized approach. The objective of the proposed controller is to make each spacecraft fly to the desired waypoints, while keeping the formation shape of multiple spacecrafts. To design the decentralized formation controller, the output feedback linearization technique using error functions for goal convergence and formation keeping is utilized for spacecraft dynamics. The primary contribution of this paper is to propose optimal controller for formation flying based on the decentralized approach. To design the optimal controller, eigenvalue assignment technique is used. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller, numerical simulations are performed for three-dimensional waypoint-passing missions of multiple spacecrafts.