A quaternion-based adaptive attitude tracking controller without velocity measurements

The main problem addressed in this paper is the quaternion-based, attitude tracking control of rigid spacecraft without angular velocity measurements and in the presence of an unknown inertia matrix. As a stepping-stone, we first design an adaptive, full-state feedback controller that compensates for parametric uncertainty while ensuring asymptotic attitude tracking errors. The adaptive, full-state feedback controller is then redesigned such that the need for angular velocity measurements is eliminated. The proposed adaptive, output feedback controller ensures asymptotic attitude tracking.