Aerocapture Attitude Control Systems Incorporating Robustness and Vehicle Parameter Identification.

摘要

A candidate attitude control system design is presented for an aerocapture vehicle capable of a wide range of mass properties. The control system consists of three main elements: a robust control law based on the nonlinear sliding mode control techniques, a linear programming jet selection algorithm adaptable to changing mass properties, and a mass property identification algorithm based on an extended Kalman filter design. The mass property identification algorithm is capable of accurately estimating unknown and changing vehicle mass properties. The estimated mass properties are fed back to the control law and the jet selection algorithm, extending the range of mass properties for which the control system is robust. A principal contribution of this thesis is the integration of these main elements into a viable attitude control system. The control system is demonstrated for the Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) vehicle via computer simulation.