Neuro‐adaptive prescribed performance control for spacecraft rendezvous based on the fully‐actuated system approach

Abstract This paper investigates the control problem of spacecraft rendezvous with obstacle constraint, considering the external disturbance forces caused by orbit perturbation. Firstly, the translational dynamic model of spacecraft rendezvous is given and then rewritten into a second‐order fully‐actuated system form. Then, by employing the prescribed performance control method, the performance function and error transformation are determined, pre‐defining the prescribed performance bounds. Moreover, the fully‐actuated system approach is used to linearize the original nonlinear system, which simplifies the processes of control law design and ensures model accuracy. After that, to ensure that the spacecraft could avoid the dangerous zone during its manoeuvre, the artificial potential function is introduced, based on which a sliding mode surface is designed. Finally, the prescribed performance control–artificial potential function‐based control law is derived, further adopting the neuro‐adaptive method to deal with external interferences. The stability of the close‐loop control system is analysed through the Lyapunov approach and the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified by carrying out a numerical simulation.