Finite-Time Prescribed Performance Control for Spacecraft Attitude Tracking

The problem of finite-time prescribed performance control (PPC) for spacecraft attitude maneuvering is researched. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, limited results have been reported. How to achieve the prescribed performance attitude tracking within a preset time interval is still an open problem, especially in the presence of inertia perturbations, external disturbances, actuator saturations, and faults. On account of this, a finite-time performance function is first constructed as the predefined boundary of tracking errors. Second, Chebyshev neural network is utilized to approximate the lumped uncertainties. Then, the Nussbaum gain technique compensating for actuator saturations and faults is incorporated into the backstepping design to develop a new fault-tolerant attitude controller. Both transient and steady-state performances (e.g., the maximum overshoot, steady-state error, and settling time) are guaranteed. Compared with the common PPC or finite-time control achievements on spacecraft attitude tracking, the setting time herein can be set in advance without relying on initial states. Finally, experiments are performed to verify the effectiveness of the solution and comparisons with related works are displayed.