Combining Distributed Consensus with Robust H-infinity-Control for Satellite Formation Flying

Control methods that guarantee stability in the presence of uncertainties are mandatory in space applications. Further, distributed control approaches are beneficial in terms of scalability and to achieve common goals, especially in multi-agent setups like formation control. This paper presents a combination of robust H-infinity control and distributed control using the consensus approach by deriving a distributed consensus-based generalized plant description that can be used in H-infinity synthesis. Special focus was set towards space applications, namely satellite formation flying. The presented results show the applicability of the developed distributed robust control method to a simple, though realistic space scenario, namely a spaceborne distributed telescope. By using this approach, an arbitrary number of satellites/agents can be controlled towards an arbitrary formation geometry. Because of the combination with robust H-infinity control, the presented method satisfies the high stability and robustness demands as found e.g., in space applications