Characteristic modeling and attitude control for small satellite via variable inertial reaction wheel

With the functional diversification of modern small satellite, new requirements that large range maneuver, high precision control are proposed. Variable inertia reaction wheel (VIRW) is expected to become the mainstream e actuator for attitude control of a new generation small satellite because of the characteristics of high-resolution and large range of torque. First of all, based on the traditional reaction wheel kinetic model, the kinetic model of small satellite control system via the three-axis orthogonal VIRW is deduced, where, the moment of inertia is treated as the variable. Secondly, the change rate of rotational inertia and the angular acceleration of rotational speed of the VIRW are chosen as state variables. And the attitude angles of the satellite are chose as output. And then the feature model of the control system is established. On this basis, the nonlinear golden section control law is designed and the control system of the small satellite with the three-axis orthogonal VIRW is simulated using Matlab. The simulation results show that the control system is stable with good transition, great anti-interference performance, and without stead-error. And it can meet the requirements of the large range attitude mobility and tracking maneuvering target.