The design of nonrobust and robust time-optimal controllers for linear
systems in the frequency domain is presented. The bang-bang profile i
s represented as the superposition of time-delayed step inputs or the
output of a time-delay filter subject to a step input. A parameter opt
imization problem is formulated to minimize the final time of the mane
uver with the constraint that the time-delay filter cancels all of the
poles of the system. The issue of robustness to errors in the model i
s addressed by placing multiple zeros of the time-delay filter at the
estimated locations of the poles of the system. The design technique i
s illustrated on representative models of large space structures, for
rest-to-rest, time-optimal, and robust time-optimal maneuvers. Spin-up
maneuvers are shown to be special cases of the general formulation.