Nonlinear Controller Design for a Flexible Spacecraft

This paper combines the nonlinear Udwadia-Kalaba control approach with the Assumed Mode Method to model flexible structures and derives an attitude controller for a spacecraft. The study case of this paper is a satellite with four flexible cantilever beams attached to a rigid central hub. Two main topics are covered in this paper. The first one is the formulation of the equation of motion and the second one is the nonlinear controller design. The combination of these two techniques is able to provide a controller that damps the vibration of a flexible structure while achieving the desired rigid-motion state.