Decentralized guidance and control for spacecraft formation flying using virtual leader configuration

This paper proposes a novel guidance and control scheme for decentralized spacecraft formation flying on SE(3) via virtual leader configuration. The configuration space for a spacecraft modeled as a rigid body is the Lie group SE(3), which is the set of positions and orientations of the spacecraft moving in three-dimensional Euclidean space. A combined guidance and feedback control law in continuous time for the full (translational and rotational) motion of a rigid body under the influence of external disturbance is designed. The guidance scheme aims to reach a final relative configuration according to the desired formation where the relative configuration is described in terms of the exponential coordinates on SE(3). The control law then obtains the desired trajectory leading to the desired formation. The stability of the feedback control system is analyzed. Numerical simulation results demonstrates that the control law can effectively perform a decentralized formation flying for a selected rigid spacecraft formation between three spacecraft.