Null‐space‐based optimal control reallocation for spacecraft stabilization under input saturation

Summary A novel saturated proportional‐derivative control incorporated with null‐space‐based optimal control reallocation is proposed for spacecraft attitude stabilization in the presence of disturbance and input saturation. More specifically, a saturated proportional‐derivative based baseline nonlinear controller is firstly developed to guarantee the globally asymptotic stability under input constraints and external disturbance. This is achieved with inexpensive online computations by dynamically adjusting a single parameter to ensure the desired performance. Then, a novel null‐space‐based optimal control reallocation method is employed to map the specified virtual control command to the redundant actuators. The optimal control solution is obtained by penalizing the control allocation errors at a lower power/energy cost using quadratic programming algorithm. The benefits of the proposed control method are analytically authenticated and also validated via simulation study.