ORCID Number
0009-0005-0870-8577
Date of Award
Fall 2025
Access Type
Dissertation - Open Access
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Aerospace Engineering
Department
Aerospace Engineering
Committee Chair
Riccardo Bevilacqua
Committee Chair Email
bevilacr@erau.edu
First Committee Member
Troy Henderson
First Committee Member Email
hendert5@erau.edu
Second Committee Member
Morad Nazari
Second Committee Member Email
Morad.Nazari@erau.edu
Third Committee Member
Richard Prazenica
Third Committee Member Email
Richard.Prazenica@erau.edu
Fourth Committee Member
Eduardo Rojas
Fourth Committee Member Email
Eduardo.Rojas@erau.edu
College Dean
James W. Gregory
Abstract
Flexible spacecraft pose several challenges in control design due to the uncertain dynamical model and the underactuated nature of these systems. Adaptive and robust controllers are the common choice for these systems to either meet operational requirements like attitude pointing or to suppress vibrations. However, these controllers add complexity in the design of onboard Attitude Determination and Control Systems (ADCS) and the Reaction Control Systems (RCS) for spacecraft maneuvering. The objective of this research is to control a system that undergoes unpredictable and unknown disturbances through onboard derivation of an equivalent reduced order model designed around mounted sensors. The proposed approach involves designing a self-tuning adaptive attitude controller for unknown flexible spacecraft by identifying a high-fidelity model through numerical and experimental simulations. The models that will be compared are obtained with a lumped-mass system of unknown parameters and an interpolated model using the Theory of Functional Connections (TFC). The unknown parameters of the system are estimated with Integral Concurrent Learning (ICL) and a detailed framework for implementing this architecture onboard using real hardware is presented and validated with experimental results obtained from a real testbed. The outcome of this investigation will create opportunities to implement deployable and morphing devices on smaller spacecraft for capturing large space debris, performing propellantless deorbiting, and autonomous tethered multi-robot systems. This approach allows satellites with flexible solar arrays to maintain precise attitude without complex pre-launch modeling. The extension of the proposed ICL-based adaptive control to a post-capture scenario is presented, showing asymptotic tracking of a desired attitude trajectory for a flexible spacecraft with unknown parameters.
Scholarly Commons Citation
Woodward, Nicolo, "Adaptive Control for Spacecraft with Flexible Appendages with Unknown Parameters" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses. 946.
https://commons.erau.edu/edt/946
Signed GS9 Form
