Vision-based rotational control of an agile observation satellite

Recent Earth observation satellites are now equipped with new instrument that allows image feedback in real-time. Problematic such as ground target tracking, moving or not, can now be addressed by precisely controlling the satellite attitude. In this paper, we propose to consider this problem using a visual servoing approach. While focusing on the target, the control scheme has also to take into account the satellite motion induced by its orbit, Earth rotational velocities, potential target own motion, but also rotational velocities and accelerations constraints of the system. We show the efficiency of our system using both simulation (considering real Earth image) and experiments on a robot that replicates actual high resolution satellite constraints.