Feedforward attitude control for a TDRS with mobile antenna

In this paper, feedforward attitude control law for a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) with mobile antennas is proposed. To track or point the target spacecraft with median/law orbit, the large mobile antennas have to move in a wide range. The movement of such mobile antennas disturbs the satellite attitude consequently. Conventionally, the main body of the satellite and the mobile antennas are controlled independently. The proposed controller first estimates the angular momentum which the mobile antennas will produce based on the momentum conservation equation. Next, it computes the desired velocity of reaction wheels to compensate the disturbance due to the antenna motion. It then adds the error of the wheels' velocity between a desired one and a current value as a feedforward signal to the control system. The proposed controller is demonstrated using a mathematical simulation, of which these results coincide well with analytical results.