Fine attitude control by reaction wheels using variable-structure controller

Abstract This paper presents a method for decreasing the disturbance of reaction wheels static friction to the attitude of a three-axis stabilized small spacecraft. Based upon variable-structure control theory, this method is independent of static friction model of reaction wheels, so that the difficulty of getting an accurate model is avoided. Meanwhile, the disturbance of friction to attitude is analyzed and experimentally verified in order to understand its physical mechanism. The real time simulation is made using MATRIXx RealSim Tools. The simulated vehicle response to wheel speed reversal shows that the variable controller is effective, and the attitude error could be reduced by 10:1 in comparison to PID controller.