Reachability and Sensitivity Analysis of a CubeSat Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking MPC Algorithm

An analysis of the sensitivity of a Model Predictive Control (MPC) guidance algorithm for autonomous rendezvous and docking (AR\&D) to the prediction horizon length and control sample time is presented. The guidance is split into three phases based on the distance between the chaser and target spacecraft: rendezvous, approach, and docking. The constraints, prediction horizon, and sample time are different for each phase. The testing scenarios consider actively controlled CubeSats initially in stable relative orbits about the chaser. An investigation is presented into the change in the resulting required delta-v and final maneuvering time as prediction horizons and sample times are.