The steering laws of single gimbal control moment gyros (SGCMGs) are analyzed and compared in this paper for a spacecraft attitude control system based on singular value decomposition (SVD) theory. The mechanism of steering laws escaping singularity, especially how the steering laws affect singularity of gimbal configuration and the output torque error, is studied using SVD theory. Performance of various steering laws are analyzed and compared quantitatively by simulation. The obtained results can be used as a reference for designers.
The stability and singularity problem of agile small satellite (ASS) with actuator failure is discussed in this paper. Firstly, the three-axis stabilized controller of an ASS is designed, where micro control moment gyros (MCMG's) in pyramid configuration (PC) is used as the actuator. By using the same controller and steering law, the control results before and after one gyro fails are compared by simulation. The variation of singular momentum envelope before and after one gyro fails is also compared. The simulation results show that the failure intensively decreases the capacity of output torque, which leads to the emergence of more singular points and the rapid saturation of MCMG's. Finally, the parameters of system controller are changed to compare the control effect.