Distributed Leaderless Attitude Consensus of Multispacecraft Systems With Full-State Constraints Under Switching Directed Graphs

This paper investigates distributed leaderless attitude consensus for multi-spacecraft systems with full-state constraints under switching directed graphs. The coexistence of attitude and angular velocity constraints poses significant challenges for the control design of multi-spacecraft systems. To tackle this issue, a transformation method is first introduced to convert the constrained attitude dynamics into an unconstrained form. A linear reference model is designed to guide consensus in the transformed space under switching directed graphs. Then, a virtual controller is designed via a backstepping approach with an auxiliary system ensuring that the states remain within prescribed bounds. Through error transformation, the virtual controller and the spacecraft attitude angular velocity are mapped to the free variables and a tracking controller is designed. Furthermore, an adaptive mechanism is integrated to estimate and compensate for unknown disturbances and parametric uncertainties. Finally, the stability of the system is analyzed using the Lyapunov method, which ensures the achievement of attitude consensus. Numerical simulations are presented to validate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control strategy.