Leader-Following Attitude Synchronization of Multiple Flexible Spacecraft Systems Subject to External Disturbance

This paper investigates the leader-following attitude synchronization problem of multiple flexible spacecraft systems under external disturbances. Compared with existing works, the external disturbance with unbounded energy is compensated. First, we design a class of dynamic compensators by the internal model principle to tackle the external disturbance. Then, by introducing a series of coordinate transformations, we convert the leader-following attitude synchronization problem into a stabilization problem of an augmented system composed of the original multi-agent system and the dynamic compensator. Given that the leader system's state can be conveyed to each follower, we develop a distributed observer for the leader system. Finally, we develop a distributed control law to solve the problem. The effectiveness and robustness of the control law are illustrated by some numerical simulations.