Model Reference Adaptive Control Design for CubeSat with Magnetorquer

Abstract

This paper proposes the Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) design for the CubeSat 1U prototype with a magnetorquer to control the yaw angle. In practice, the system dynamics parameters of the CubeSat 1U, such as the moment inertia and mass, are unknown. To handle the uncertainties of the parameters, the authors propose MRAC to control the yaw angle of the CubeSat 1U. The controller is designed and deployed using MATLAB, which is connected via Bluetooth to the CubeSat 1U. In the experiment, the communication delay occurs and causes deteriorated output response of standard MRAC. The modified MRAC and redesigned reference signal are used to reduce the time delay effect for the proposed controller. The numerical simulation and experiment are used to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller design. It is shown by modifying the standard MRAC and the reference signal, the system error can be reduced from +110-20 degrees to +10-10 degrees.