Finite-Time Distributed Attitude Synchronization for Multiple Spacecraft With Angular Velocity and Input Constraints

The attitude synchronization problem for multiple spacecraft with angular velocity and input constraints is investigated in this article, under the mild assumptions that the leader’s states can reach each follower through a path and the communications between followers are bidirectional. An adaptive finite-time distributed observer is designed to estimate the leader’s states for each follower spacecraft, which has the superiority in the fully distributed that the communication topology or some other global information is not required, and the finite-time convergence can be guaranteed. Furthermore, the novel auxiliary systems are first proposed to avoid the angular velocity and input constraints being violated, while the finite-time command filtered backstepping controller is designed to track the leader’s attitude motion. The remarkable features of the developed algorithm are the global finite-time attitude consensus of multiple spacecraft, with the constraints satisfied. Moreover, the efficiency of the proposed method is illustrated by numerical simulations and real-time platform verification.