AbstractOne of the key technologies to be demonstrated on board the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft (S/C) is the drag-free attitude control systems (DFACS), aiming to control the S/C attitude and the S/C test masses relative motion with a precision of the order of the nanometer. This paper explores how the controllers could be designed and tuned with the Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT). After a summary of the plant dynamics and the control strategy using input decoupling, the various performance specifications are presented and transformed into a set of design criteria expressed as constraints for the controller sensitivity and complementary sensitivity transfer functions of each individual control axis. The QFT technique is then used for designing and tuning the controllers, in particular to perform the trade-off between performances and stability and use the available design margins in the drag-free controllers to meet different performance specifications. Both frequency-domain analysis and time-domain simulation test results are presented to evaluate the performance of controllers designed for different purposes.


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    Title :

    Spacecraft drag-free attitude control system design with Quantitative Feedback Theory


    Contributors:
    Wu, Shu-Fan (author) / Fertin, Denis (author)

    Published in:

    Acta Astronautica ; 62 , 12 ; 668-682


    Publication date :

    2008-01-17


    Size :

    15 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English