Distributed Model Predictive Control of satellite attitude using hybrid reaction wheels and magnetic actuators

Reaction wheels are used by satellite attitude control system to deliver precise torque to orientate the satellite. Mechanical failure of reaction wheel(s) will result in reconfiguration to hybrid control system to employ the magnetic actuators in place of the faulty reaction wheel(s). A Distributed Model Predictive Control (DMPC) scheme is proposed in this paper. The proposed approach updates the reactive torque and magnetic torque at different sampling time, allowing the system to react to disturbances sooner which takes into account the toggling of magnetic actuators to prevent interference with the magnetic sensors onboard a satellite. Simulation results based on an experimental satellite have validated the performance of the proposed method.