Comparative study of various control methods for attitude control of a LEO satellite

A nonlinear attitude model of a satellite with thrusters, gravity torquers and a reaction wheel cluster is developed. Then the linearized version of this satellite attitude model is derived for the attitude hold mode. For comparison purpose, various control methods are considered for attitude control of a satellite. We consider a proportional derivative controller which is actually used in the remote sensing satellite, KOMPSAT. Then a comparison is made with an 2H controller, an H controller, and a mixed 2H / ∞H controller. The analysis and numerical studies show that the proportional derivative controller’s performance is limited in the sense that the pitch angle cannot approach zero. The simulations also show that among three control methods ( 2H control, H control, and mixed 2H / ∞H control) 2H control has the fastest response time, H control has the slowest and mixed 2H / ∞H control comes in between the first two control methods. On the other hand, H control used least amount of control effort while 2H control required the most