This paper presents a robust nonlinear H∞ output-feedback control approach for attitude manoeuvring of flexible spacecraft with external disturbances, inertia matrix perturbation and input constraints. By applying Lyapunov stability theory and using the generalized S-procedure and sum of squares (SOS) techniques, the robust H∞ output-feedback attitude control problem is converted into a convex optimization problem with SOS constraints when the flexible spacecraft is modelled as a polynomial state-space equation with polytope uncertainties. As a result, it overcomes the difficulty in constructing Lyapunov function and implementing numerical computation caused by the non-convexity of output-feedback H∞ control design for nonlinear systems. Moreover, it enables the state-observer and the controller to be designed independently and hence the complexity of the control algorithm is reduced remarkably. A numerical example illustrates the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach.
