An optimal control approach to spacecraft rendezvous on elliptical orbit

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a linear quadratic regulator control problem for spacecraft rendezvous in an elliptical orbit. A new spacecraft rendezvous model is established. On the basis of this model, a linear quadratic regulator control problem is formulated. A parametric Lyapunov differential equation approach is used to design a state feedback controller such that the resulting closed-loop system is asymptotically stable, and the performance index is minimized. By an appropriate choice of the value of a parameter, an approximate state feedback controller is obtained from a solution to the periodic Lyapunov differential equation,where the periodic Lyapunov differential equation is solved on the basis of a new numerical algorithm. The spacecraft rendezvous mission under the controller obtained will be accomplished successfully. Several illustrative examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed control design method.