New Chattering Attenuation Sliding Mode Control of a Flexible Spacecraft

An improved sliding mode control (SMC) strategy for the attitude control problem of a nonlinear spacecraft with an elastic appendage is investigated. Since conventional sliding mode controllers include a discontinuous function, a significant problem called chattering can occur. In this study, a new switching function is used to minimize the effects of chattering, which will excite critical oscillations in the modal coordinate. The designed controller is derived using Lyapunov’s second method, which keeps a system stable. The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed controller in tracking the attitude maneuver and damping the oscillations.