Mode Switching Control for Drag-Free Satellite Based on Region of Attraction

This paper aims to propose a switching rule to improve the efficiency and stability of the mode switching process for the drag-free satellite. The switching rules will ensure the stability of the different controllers during the switching process. Unlike traditional satellite switching control, the inner loop and the outer loop of the drag-free satellite are strongly coupled. The drag-free satellite not only needs to consider the controller design in the inner loop but also the controller design of the outer loop. In the outer loop, a Proportion Integration Differentiation control method is adopted to design the controller. In the inner loop, considering the release error effect of the test mass, a nonlinear sliding-mode control is employed as a controller before the mode switch. The H∞ mixed-sensitivity controller, to improve the robustness of the system and solve the problem of controller saturation, is designed after the mode switch. In the stability analysis of the switching system, the piecewise continuous Lyapunov function method is adopted. The region of attraction, which is used as the switching rule, is calculated based on the sum of squares. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed switching rule satisfies the control accuracy and system stability.