Formation control for multiple spacecraft with disturbances and sensor failures

doi:10.23919/JSEE.2026.000013

Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics ›› 2026, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (1): 18-25.doi: 10.23919/JSEE.2026.000013

• PERCEPTION, CONTROL, AND DECISION-MAKING OF EMBODIED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS • Previous Articles Next Articles

Formation control for multiple spacecraft with disturbances and sensor failures

Yufei LI¹(), Yuezu LYU²^,*(), Wenliang PENG³^,*()

¹School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
²School of Artificial Intelligence, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
³School of Information Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology Zhuhai, Zhuhai 519088, China

Received:2025-10-15 Online:2026-02-18 Published:2026-03-09
Contact: Yuezu LYU, Wenliang PENG E-mail:3420205019@bit.edu.cn;yzlv@bit.edu.cn;6220201059@bit.edu.cn
About author:
LI Yufei was born in 1982. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in information and communication engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology, China. His research interests include multi-agent system coordination, distributed optimization, and autonomy in space operations. E-mail: 3420205019@bit.edu.cn

LYU Yuezu was born in 1991. He received his B.S. degree from Engineering Mechanics from Peking University, Beijing, China, in 2013, and Ph.D. degree from Mechanical Systems and Control from Peking University, Beijing, China, in 2018. He is a professor in Beijing Institute of Technology. His research interests include cooperative control of multi-agent systems, distributed state estimation, and fully distributed control. E-mail: yzlv@bit.edu.cn

PENG Wenliang was born in 1981. He received his B.S. degree in automation at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, in 2005, and M.S. degree from Control Theory and Control Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, in 2009. His research interests include intelligent control of multi-agent systems and fault diagnosis. E-mail: 6220201059@bit.edu.cn
Supported by:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62088101; 62522307; 62273045; U2341213) and Beijing Nova Program (20230484481).

Abstract

Abstract:

Formation control of multiple spacecraft has attracted extensive research attention. However, achieving reliable performance under sensor failures remains a significant challenge. This paper develops an integrated framework that jointly designs distributed observers and local controllers to ensure robust formation control in the presence of external disturbances and sensor malfunctions. Treating the spacecraft formation as a single interconnected system, each spacecraft constructs a distributed observer that estimates the overall system state by incorporating both its own measurements and the predicted control information shared among the spacecraft. Based on the observer estimates, a local control law is synthesized to maintain the desired formation. Rigorous theoretical analysis and numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed integrated approach effectively guarantees formation stability and resilience against sensor failures and disturbances.

Key words: formation control, multiple spacecraft, disturbance, sensor failure

Yufei LI, Yuezu LYU, Wenliang PENG. Formation control for multiple spacecraft with disturbances and sensor failures[J]. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 2026, 37(1): 18-25.

Figures/Tables 7

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