Optimization of generalized potential in mission function control - Analytical and experimental results

Abstract

The mission function control utilizes the second law of Lyapunov and employs a mission function that is a Lyapunov function, including a hypothetical potential function, generalized potential. The mission function is characterized for its ability to include any functional form of positive-definite generalized potential to complete the control objective. The functional form of the generalized potential is optimized in the sense of minimizing a performance index, and a robust optimal nonlinear and distributed control algorithm for the slew maneuver of flexible structures is presented. The employment of the optimal nonlinear generalized potential naturally achieves improvement of control performance, and it avoids the excessive excitation of the vibration of flexible structures for large attitude angle reorientation in the case of a quadratic generalized potential. The usefulness of the present optimized generalized potential for mission function control is verified both by a numerical simulation and by a hardware experiment.