Home > ASTRODYNAMICS > Vol. 3 (2019) > Iss. 1
Article Title
Orbital rendezvous performance comparison of differential geometric and ZEM/ZEV feedback guidance algorithms
Keywords
differential geometric guidance, ZEM/ZEV feedback guidance, orbital rendezvous, initial drift phase
Abstract
In this paper, the performance of two distinct classes of feedback guidance algorithms isevaluated for a spacecraft rendezvous problem utilizing a continuous low-thrust propulsionsystem. They are the DG (Differential Geometric) and ZEM/ZEV (Zero-Effort-Miss/Zero-Effort-Velocity) feedback guidance algorithms. Even though these two guidance algorithms donot attempt to minimize the onboard fuel consumption or ΔV directly, the ΔV requirementis used as a measure of their orbital rendezvous performance for various initial conditions anda wide range of the rendezvous time (within less than one orbital period of the target vehicle).For the DG guidance, the effects of its guidance parameter and terminal time on the closed-loopperformance are evaluated by numerical simulations. For the ZEM/ZEV guidance, its near-fuel-optimality is further demonstrated for a rapid, short-range orbital rendezvous, in comparisonwith the corresponding open-loop optimal solutions. Furthermore, the poor ΔV performance ofthe ZEM/ZEV guidance for a slow, long-range orbital rendezvous is remedied by simply addingan initial drift phase. The ZEM/ZEV feedback guidance algorithm and its appropriate variantsare then shown to be a simple practical solution to a non-impulsive rendezvous problem, incomparison with the DG guidance as well as the open-loop optimal guidance.
Publisher
Tsinghua University Press
Recommended Citation
Pengyu Wang,Yanning Guo,Bong Wie,Orbital rendezvous performance comparison of differential geometric and ZEM/ZEV feedback guidance algorithms.Astrodyn.2019, 3(1): 79–92.