Staring imaging attitude tracking control of agile small satellite

The attitude tracking control of staring imaging of an agile small satellite driven by Double-Gimbaled Control Moment Gyroscopes (DGCMG) was investigated. Firstly, an actuator configuration scheme was developed according to the characteristics of agile satellite and the staring imaging mission requirements. Then, the orbit information was used to compute the relative attitude angle and attitude angular velocity of a staring imaging target with respect to the satellite body reference frame, and the proper control law and steering law were introduced to avoid the singularity of Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG). Finally, based on the "SY-3" satellite attitude and orbit control simulation platform, the agile small satellite closed-loop control simulation system was established by taking the mission requirements and the actuator adjustments into account and the proposed design scheme and control method were verified in a mathematical simulation. Obtained results show that the presented solution is effective for staring imaging attitude maneuver control of the agile small satellite and the least gimbal angle rate of DGCMG is the most important factor to determinate attitude tracking precision.