Collision-Free Flocking Control for Satellite Cluster with Constrained Spanning Tree Topology and Communication Delay

In this article, a flocking control strategy combining with artificial potential field is developed for collision-free trajectory tracking of satellite cluster with multiple disturbances and communication delay. Considering the link constraints of each satellite, a degree-constrained spanning tree is adopted as the communication topology. Furthermore, a topology optimization method based on the Prim and greedy algorithms is investigated to compute the degree radius constrained minimum spanning tree. By using the optimized communication topology, the satellites in cluster can reduce the communication delay and converge to the desired distances more quickly. Finally, the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method are verified by numerical simulations.