{"title":"Safety-critical control for multiple spacecraft close-proximity inspection","authors":"Zijie Lin , Baolin Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2025.110938","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates the control problem for multiple spacecraft in an on-orbit inspection mission. The spacecraft swarm consists of a tumbling target and multiple chasers that are commanded to approach and inspect the target. The primary control objective is to maintain the chaser hovering above the tumbling target while steadily pointing towards it. The approach process must adhere to several safe motion constraints: 1) avoid collisions among chasers and target; 2) prevent chasers from occluding each other’s camera field of view; 3) ensure that sunlight does not invade the field of view. To achieve this, a novel control scheme is proposed, which includes two components: a robust tracking controller based on fully actuated system approach, and a safety-critical control framework that uses control barrier function with quadratic programming. This strategy separates the control system into two layers: the former for tracking stability and the latter as a safety control correction to satisfy constraints. First, the models of fully actuated systems for relative motion and attitude on SO(3) are derived. Then, a fixed-time disturbance observer is applied to the tracking controller. Subsequently, six-degree-of-freedom multiple motion constraints are modeled. The backup control barrier function method is utilized in safety-critical control framework, considering spacecraft high-order dynamics and limited inputs. Finally, the comparative simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in a multispacecraft inspection scenario.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"168 ","pages":"Article 110938"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Aerospace Science and Technology","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1270963825010028","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, AEROSPACE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper investigates the control problem for multiple spacecraft in an on-orbit inspection mission. The spacecraft swarm consists of a tumbling target and multiple chasers that are commanded to approach and inspect the target. The primary control objective is to maintain the chaser hovering above the tumbling target while steadily pointing towards it. The approach process must adhere to several safe motion constraints: 1) avoid collisions among chasers and target; 2) prevent chasers from occluding each other’s camera field of view; 3) ensure that sunlight does not invade the field of view. To achieve this, a novel control scheme is proposed, which includes two components: a robust tracking controller based on fully actuated system approach, and a safety-critical control framework that uses control barrier function with quadratic programming. This strategy separates the control system into two layers: the former for tracking stability and the latter as a safety control correction to satisfy constraints. First, the models of fully actuated systems for relative motion and attitude on SO(3) are derived. Then, a fixed-time disturbance observer is applied to the tracking controller. Subsequently, six-degree-of-freedom multiple motion constraints are modeled. The backup control barrier function method is utilized in safety-critical control framework, considering spacecraft high-order dynamics and limited inputs. Finally, the comparative simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in a multispacecraft inspection scenario.
期刊介绍:
Aerospace Science and Technology publishes articles of outstanding scientific quality. Each article is reviewed by two referees. The journal welcomes papers from a wide range of countries. This journal publishes original papers, review articles and short communications related to all fields of aerospace research, fundamental and applied, potential applications of which are clearly related to:
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