Angular Rate Estimation for Gyroless Satellite Attitude Control

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study to develop and evaluate an attitude and attitude rate estimation technique for a multi-body spacecraft that includes a real time angular rate calculation from the system dynamic model and a Kalman filter estimator with attitude sensor updates provided by star trackers. The performances of this method, dynamic gyro, are compared with that of rate gyros and the effects of primary error sources in the dynamic model are analyzed. It is shown that the corrections provided by a star tracker based Kalman filter make the system robust to measurement and parameter knowledge error sources. This method provides an imperfect but operative means of estimating multi-body spacecraft angular rates. This method is ideally suited to a spacecraft designed specifically for its implementation with precise internal sensors and mechanism to monitor spacecraft parameters and integrated external torque estimation modeling.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA636932

Entities

People

  • Brij N. Agrawal
  • William J. Palermo

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Angular Momentum
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Attitude Control Systems
  • Control Systems
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Detectors
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Kalman Filters
  • Magnetic Dipoles
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Measurement
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Relative Motion
  • Satellite Attitude Control
  • Satellite Orientation
  • Spacecraft
  • Star Trackers

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers