Three dimensional attitude control of an underactuated satellite with thrusters

This paper deals with the three-dimensional attitude control of an underactuated satellite equipped with thrusters whose force directions are fixed to the satellite. First, the necessary number of thrusters for the satellite's attitude control is discussed utilizing the Minkowski-Farkas theorem. Then, using the wz parameters for a satellite's attitude expression, this paper proposes a non holonomic attitude controller which is effective for any satellite regardless of its moment of inertia. Numerical simulation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed controller. Furthermore, the efficiency of the controller for different thruster positions is also discussed.