Effect of the Delay in Fuzzy Attitude Control for Nanosatellites

The effect of the time delay in the actuation of the different agents of a fuzzy attitude control system for a nanosatellite is evaluated in this work. Previously a controller based on fuzzy logic and optimized by genetic algorithms had been designed. In that control system some components were idealized, that is, it was supposed that the system knew its real orientation at every moment, the controller commanded the orders instantaneously and the actuators responded to them immediately. However, the sensors take some time, called delay, to measure the attitude of the satellite and send it to the processor, the processor takes some time to order new actuations and the actuators also need some time to fulfill the order. The objective of this work is to evaluate how these delays affect the controller performance and to redesign the controller if necessary, by taking into account the effect of the delays in the control algorithms design.