Autonomous Low-Thrust Control of Long-Distance Satellite Clusters Using Artificial Potential Function

Thispaper investigates the micro-satellite cluster long-distance gathering control problem including initialization, orbit maintenance and collision avoidance operations. This problem is formulated using absolute orbital elements and newly developed quadratic artificial potential function based on these elements. Incorporating with the artificial potential function, a distributed autonomous low-thrust control method is proposed to solve the cluster gathering problem. Comparing with the fuel-optimal control problem formulated by equations established in Cartesian coordinates, the proposed method demonstrates geometrical intuition and possesses a low-cost computation burden. These advantages make the proposed method more suitable for controlling micro-satellite clusters. The stability of the autonomous low-thrust control method is proved using the Lyapunov method. Additionally, a Monte Carlo analysis is applied to demonstrate both the effectiveness and the collision avoidance ability of the presented algorithm.