Satellite attitude control: Feedback quaternion PD controller design with fuzzy gain scheduling and an experimental case study on one axis control

Satellites have various subsystems to perform their missions. One of the most important of these subsystems is the Attitude Determination and Control System. It ensures that the satellite satisfies the desired orientation. Today, the development of Attitude Determination and Control System research continues by applying different types of control algorithms in order to investigate more efficient controllers. In this study, there are two main parts. First part consists of a nonlinear Attitude Determination and Control design which is based on Quaternion approach for a satellite. In this design, two relative controllers i.e., quaternion-based PD control and Fuzzy Logic plus PD hybrid control are applied on the same system. The simulation results are compared with each other in terms of their success on the response. The first one is the Feedback Quaternion Controller. In this controller, once the PD gains are determined at the beginning then these gains are the same throughout the motion. The other one is the Fuzzy Logic Feedback Quaternion Controller. In this controller, the gain values are determined adaptively by Fuzzy Logic algorithm so that the error and the angular velocity of the satellite are adapted according to the faced conditions. In the second part, a position controller is developed on a one axis experimental system that can rotate only in the Z axis. Then control simulations related with this physical system and the proposed control methods are realized by using the Simulink® environment. The main shaft has ball bearings which induces some friction to the system resisting the rotation about Z axis. So, this friction is modelled and included in the simulations. The designed controllers are then uploaded on the experimental system and the system is controlled to satisfy the previously given angular positions.