Built on the combined strength of decentralized control and the recently introduced virtual structure approach, a decentralized formation scheme for spacecraft formation flying is presented in this paper. Following a decentralized coordination architecture via the virtual structure approach, decentralized formation control strategies are introduced, which are appropriate when a large number of ...

This paper investigates the closed-loop dynamics of systems controlled via parallel estimators. This structure arises in formation flying problems when each spacecraft bases its control action on an internal estimate of the complete formation state. For LTI systems a separation principle shows that the necessary and sufficient conditions for overall system stability are more stringent than the ...

Built on the combined strength of decentralized control and the recently introduced virtual structure approach, a decentralized formation scheme for spacecraft formation flying is presented in this paper. Following a decentralized coordination architecture via the virtual structure approach, decentralized formation control strategies are introduced, which are appropriate when a large number of ...

A key element of NASA’s future space exploration is high precision formation flying (FF) for space interferometry. Precision FF has never been attempted before and poses new and significant challenges to the underlying control system. While the guidance and control (G&C) methodologies of single spacecraft for traditional planetary flyby and orbiter missions are well-understood, the G&C of FF mi...

Several space missions are being planned with large fleets of spacecraft at GEO and beyond where relative navigation using GPS will either be impossible or insufficient. Onboard local ranging devices will be required to replace or augment the available GPS measurements to perform relative navigation for these missions. The vast amounts of distributed data and the computational load limitations ...

In this paper, we consider a distributed attitude alignment problem for a team of deep space formation flying spacecraft through local information exchange. We propose control laws for three different cases. In the first case, multiple spacecraft converge to their (possibly time-varying) desired attitudes while maintaining the same attitude or given relative attitudes during formation maneuvers...

This article presents a simple synchronization framework with application to synchronization control of formation flying spacecraft. A dynamical network of multiple Lagrangian systems is constructed by adding diffusive couplings to otherwise freely flying spacecraft. The proposed tracking control law synchronizes an arbitrary number of spacecraft into a common time-varying trajectory with globa...

Carrier-phase Di erential GPS (CDGPS) for orbit and attitude determination is emerging as a very promising low cost alternative to more conventional methods, such as sun sensors, magnetometers, and star trackers. Relative spacecraft position and attitude determination are important for missions involving formation ying, such as those proposed for stellar interferometry under NASA's New Millenni...

Efficient algorithms for collision-free energy sub-optimal path planning for formations of spacecraft flying in deep space are presented. The idea is to introduce a set of way-points through which the spacecraft are required to pass, combined with parameterizations of the trajectories which are energy-optimal for each spacecraft. The resulting constrained optimization problem is formulated as a...

This paper introduces a closed-loop Guidance and Control optimal algorithm that balances the propellant consumption and the need for collision avoidance among formation ‡ying spacecraft. This model-based algorithm is purely algebraic and computes the spacecraft trajectories from the knowledge of the formation linearized relative dynamics equations and the formation full state. Using Pontryagin’...