A Minimum-Fuel Fixed-Time Low-Thrust Rendezvous Solved with the Switching Systems Theory

• Published in: TRANSACTIONS OF THE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR AERONAUTICAL AND SPACE SCIENCES AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY JAPAN Vol. 16; no. 7; pp. 628 - 634
• Main Authors: GAZZINO, Clément, LOUEMBET, Christophe, CERRI, Luca, ARZELIER, Denis, PITTET, Christelle, LOSA, Damiana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo THE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR AERONAUTICAL AND SPACE SCIENCES 01.01.2018; Japan Science and Technology Agency; Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences (J-STAGE)
• Series: ISTS Special Issue
• Subjects: Automatic Control Engineering; Computer Science; Fuels; Low Thrust; Optimal Control; Optimization; Parameter sensitivity; Rendezvous; Satellite Rendezvous; Subsystems; Switching; Switching Systems; System theory; Systems theory; Thrust; Thrusters; Switching Systems; Satellite Rendezvous; Optimal Control; Low Thrust
• ISSN: 1884-0485; 0549-3811; 1884-0485; 0549-3811
• DOI: 10.2322/tastj.16.628

In this paper, a fuel optimal rendezvous problem is tackled in the Hill-Clohessy-Wiltshire framework with several operational constraints as bounds on the thrust, non linear non convex and disjunctive operational constraints (on-off profile of the thrusters, minimum elapsed time between two consecutive firings...). An indirect method and a decomposition technique have already been combined in order to solve this kind of optimal control problem with such constraints. Due to a great number of parameters to tune, satisfactory results are hard to obtain and are sensitive to the initial condition. Assuming that no singular arc exists, it can be shown that the optimal control exhibits a bang-bang structure whose optimal switching times are to be found. Noticing that a system with a bang-bang control profile can be considered as two subsystems switching from one with control on to with control off, and vice-versa, a technique coming from the switching systems theory is used in order to optimise the switching times.