Robust H∞ control of spacecraft rendezvous on elliptical orbit

This paper investigates the robust H_∞ control problem of spacecraft rendezvous on elliptical orbit. Based on Lyapunov theory, a sufficient condition for the existence of the robust H_∞ controller is given in terms of the periodic Riccati differential equation (PRDE) with an indefinite quadratic term. Then, an approximate stabilizable controller is designed by using an iterative algorithm. With the controller obtained, the spacecraft rendezvous mission can be accomplished. An illustrative example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed control design method.