Globally convergent attitude controlled synchronization of networked spacecraft on strongly connected graphs

In this paper, we address the attitude controlled synchronization problem for multiple networked spacecraft agents on strongly connected graphs. The nonlinear nature of the employed quaternion based attitude coupling distinguishes our result from most existing control schemes in the literature. We propose a new quaternion based inter-coupling control for networked spacecraft. Using this inter-coupling control, an cascaded adaptive control scheme is proposed. Using Lyapunov stability analysis, we show that the proposed adaptive controller is globally convergent and furthermore robust with respect to constant non-uniform time delays. Simulation results are presented to show the performance of the proposed control scheme.