System design and performance of the two-gyro science mode for the Hubble Space Telescope

For 15 years, the science mission of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) required using three of the six on-board rate gyros for attitude control. Failed gyros were eventually replaced through Space Shuttle Servicing Missions. To ensure the maximum science mission life, a two-gyro science (TGS) mode has been designed and implemented with performance comparable to three-gyro operations. The excellent performance has enabled a transition to operations with 2 gyros (by intentionally turning off a running gyro to save it for later use), and allows for an even greater science mission extension. Predictions show the gain in mission life approaching two years. In TGS mode, the rate information formerly provided by the third gyro is provided by another sensor. There are three submodes, each defined by the sensor used to provide the missing rate information (magnetometers, star trackers, and fine guidance sensors). Although each sensor has limitations, when used sequentially they provide the means to transition from relatively large, post-maneuver attitude errors of up to 10, to the arcsecond errors needed to transition to fine pointing required for science observing. Only small reductions in science productivity exist in TGS mode primarily due to more difficult target scheduling necessary to satisfy constraints imposed by the use of the star trackers. Scientists see no degradation in image quality due to the very low jitters levels that are nearly equivalent to three-gyro mode.     

星敏感器与地平仪组合定姿建模与仿真

根据用星敏感器和地平仪组合的姿态确定算法建立的星敏感器和地平仪测量模型,以及采用的记忆衰减最小二秉滤渡的定姿估计模型,基于RT-LAB实时仿真平台和MATLAB/Simulink数字仿真平台进行了仿真.结果表明:星敏感器和地平仪组合定姿精度较高;用RT-LAB平台进行实时仿真具有方便、高效、精确和开放等优点.     

星敏感器测量模型及其在卫星姿态确定系统中的应用

星敏感器是卫星高精度姿态测量的重要部件，如何正确建立其测量误差模型是影响姿态确定精度的关键因素。本文推导出星敏感器三轴姿态测量误差的方差计算公式，对测量误差的性质进行研究，揭示了在星敏感器三轴测量中，光轴测量精度劣于根据另两轴测量所确定的光轴指向精度。在此基础上提出了新的星敏感器测量模型，给出改进的姿态滤波器观测方程，减小了观测误差，由此可以进一步提高姿态确定的精度。本文方法不仅适用于通常使用的双星敏感器姿态确定系统，也可独立地应用于只带单个星敏感器的姿态确定系统。     

惯性敏感器与星敏感器之间在轨自主标定比较研究

惯性敏感器与星敏感器组合定姿是航天器高精度姿态确定的常用手段。通常将惯性敏感器的常值漂移作为扩展状态进行标定,而将星敏感器的常值偏差作为扩展状态进行估计也是可能的。本文对这两种方法的定姿精度进行了分析比较,给出了选用的准则。     

星图匹配观测三角形优化选取技术

为了提高三角形星图识别算法的成功率,减少匹配过程中的计算量,进而提高星敏感器实时输出姿态的性能,提出一种星图匹配前“二次优化”选取观测三角形方法,该方法在在初选观测三角形的基础上,对观测三角形进行第二次优化筛选,进而提高星图识别环节的效率。优化选取观测三角形是基于QUEST定姿原理,将观测三角形的边与夹角的约束关系转换到像平面上。全天球遍历分析统计结果表明：在12°×12°视场中,采用本文提出的方法,可使一次匹配成功并输出可用于星图验证环节的较高精度姿态信息的概率提高60.9％,从总体上可大大减少星敏感器星图识别环节的计算量,并且每帧全天球定姿输出的时间一致性也被大大提高。     

星敏感器光轴测量的锥面误差模型及其应用

星敏感器是卫星高精度姿态测量系统中的重要器件,根据其测量可以建立不同形式的星敏感器测量模型,准确分析测量模型中测量误差的特性是保证卫星姿态确定精度的重要条件。本文针对广泛采用的星敏感器光轴矢量测量方程,从几何角度出发,结合实际情况,提出了一种新颖的星敏感器光轴测量的锥面误差模型。在两个锥面参数分别服从一定的概率分布的条件下,对测量误差特性进行了深入分析,确定出新的测量误差协方差矩阵。上述研究能够在不增加算法计算量的前提下,从新的角度,更为直观地建立了星敏感器光轴矢量测量模型。最后在仿真实验中,将新的锥面误差测量模型应用于基于扩展卡尔曼滤波（EKF）的姿态确定方法中,结果表明了利用该测量模型进行姿态确定的有效性。     

Disturbance rejection in space applications: Problems and solutions

Navigation, control and guidance of the propulsive phase of planetary landing, e.g. on Mars (or the Moon), with a soft landing being the only target, are driven by Inertial Measurement Units and a radar altimeter/velocimeter. Their measurements are affected by bias and scale errors. The latter ones are aggravated by the attitude navigation error as it accumulates during the ballistic (and aerodynamic) flight after orbiter separation and couples for most of the descent trajectory with the vehicle axis inclination from the local vertical direction. By complementing the center-of-mass dynamics with appropriate disturbance state equations driven by noise vectors and estimating the noise from the model error (plant measurements minus model output), scale errors and bias can be retrieved in real time in the form of disturbance state variables. Although a similar complement is adopted in the standard navigation algorithms, it takes the form of an output disturbance, which may lead to unobservability. In this paper instead, the disturbance complement is designed to be fully observable, which may require that the derivatives of smooth systematic errors be pushed up to the command channel (a form of back-stepping). It is then viable, unlike standard navigation, to eliminate them from position and velocity tracking errors through disturbance rejection, under appropriate convergence conditions and sensor layout. It will, however, be demonstrated in this paper that the same result cannot be achieved under pure feedback control. Since constant errors (bias) become zero through back-stepping, a well known fact derives: bias can only be eliminated by disposing of supplementary sensors.To further enlighten and solve the question of bias rejection, a further case study is treated. The attitude control of drag-free satellites is considered, where fine accelerometers allow for the rejection of wide-band aerodynamic torques (think of low-Earth orbit spacecrafts) at the price of attitude divergence because of accelerometer bias and drift. The spacecraft attitude can be made bounded and accurate, if bias and drift are modeled as angular accelerations, affecting the attitude. They are estimated by attitude sensors like star trackers and then are rejected by the attitude control. The results in the soft landing and drag free case studies are illustrated by simulated runs and Monte Carlo trials.     

A procedure for three-dimensional angular velocity determination using a star sensor in high-rate rotation modes

This paper presents an application for modern star trackers aimed at the estimation of the spacecraft angular velocity vector on the basis of the star field images acquired during fast rotations, when star identification and tracking are not possible. Angular rates in the range 2–8°/s are considered, which strongly affect the characteristics of the acquirable images, in particular for shape and brightness. The procedure consists in the exploitation of the rigid motion equations to identify the rotation that best fits the observed star trajectories in the sensor field of view. Its coverage capability is analysed with reference to the sensitivity of state-of-the-art photodetectors. The probability of an adequate acquisition is shown to be 0.80 with random pointing and rotation axis over the celestial sphere. Firstly, the accuracy of the procedure is discussed in numerical tests. Then, end-to-end tests are reported, which have been operated by implementing the procedure in a hardware sensor model that acquires simulated star field scenes in a laboratory facility. Both the validations point out that the accuracy of 1°/s, suggested by the European Space Agency for this kind of application, has been achieved. Moreover, the rate of rotation about axes perpendicular to the boresight can be computed with accuracy one order of magnitude better.     

基于模型误差确定卫星姿态的预测滤波算法

本文给出了一种高精度、鲁棒性强的实时姿态估计算法，即预测滤波算法。该算法利用星敏感器所提供的观测矢量，对运动学方程中由陀螺漂移造成的角速度模型误差进行一步预测，从而准确地估计卫星的运动姿态和角速度。预测滤波算法的良好性能已通过仿真测试得到了验证。文中进一步提出的修正算法，使滤波器的预测性能得到了改进。     

Multiple model Kalman filter for attitude determination of precision pointing spacecraft

This paper proposes a novel multiple model estimator for the satellite attitude determination system composed of gyroscopes and star sensors. The main objective is to calibrate the low frequency error of the star sensor and improve the attitude determination accuracy. In the proposed approach, first, the specific frequencies of the low frequency error is extracted according to the frequency spectrum of the estimate of the gyroscope drift obtained from a standard Kalman filter; then, a bank of Kalman filters based on multiple models is implemented to identify the amplitudes of the error signals with the specific frequencies, such that a reference model is obtained to compensate for the effects of the low frequency error. Simulation results indicate that the proposed approach outperforms the existing calibration approach based on the state augmentation technique.     

多敏感器信息融合技术在卫星姿态确定中的应用

针对惯性陀螺、星敏感器和红外地平仪组成的卫星姿态确定系统,基于联邦卡尔曼滤波技术和多敏感器信息融合技术,提出了二级分散滤波方案,该方案能够实现系统的故障诊断与系统重构,提高系统的可靠性,最后通过仿真解算出高精度的姿态测量信息。     

A survey of algorithms for star identification with low-cost star trackers

This paper aims to present a set of lost-in-space star identification algorithms that works effectively for small satellites. Several algorithms are investigated for both phases of star identification: feature extraction and catalogue search. For feature extraction, it is shown that an algorithm using extended images with combined images works best, and for catalogue search, the Group Catalogue is shown to be most efficient. Therefore, this paper proposes an algorithm combining these three. Simulation results show the effectiveness of this algorithm for its robustness to various errors, and an application of this algorithm, “unequal” star trackers, is introduced.     

星图匹配制导中的关键技术

为了提高新一代弹道导弹的快速、机动反击能力和射击精度，采用星光，惯性组合制导足最佳的选择。本论文给出了基于双星敏感器的、星图匹配制导系统的关键技术。提出了根据弹道设计导航星表．极大地简化了弹载星表；提出了一种适用于星光制导的凸多边形箅法，合理地减少了匹配的星对角距数目。这两项技术保证了星图匹配制导技术的实用性。提出了一种分离初始定位、定向误差及平台漂移误差方法。采用凸多边形的星图识别算法可同时获得多颗星的瞬时位置，结合恒星在像平面的位置可解算导弹在赤道惯性系和发射点惯性系的三轴姿态，最后，给出了导弹初始定位、定向误差的数学表达式。仿真结果表明了该方法的有效性。     

运载火箭全捷联惯性/星光复合制导研究

全捷联惯性/星光复合制导是运载火箭空间快速响应发射的重要途径.针对捷联惯性制导系统中初始定位定向误差、初始调平对准误差及惯性器件漂移等3类主要误差因素,建立了运载火箭的数字平台基准偏差模型和导航误差模型,并提出了一种双星修正策略方案.数值仿真分析了各误差因素对捷联惯性导航精度的影响,并进一步验证了该复合制导方案的可行性...     

基于控制有效性因子的卫星姿态控制系统在轨重构容错控制

研究了在轨卫星姿态控制系统发生可修复性故障状况下的重构容错控制。首先在星敏感器对陀螺的标定模型中引入控制有效性因子，并利用二级卡尔曼滤波算法求解其值，以说明系统的控制有效程度。然后采用统计假设检验通过其幅值变化判断系统是否存在故障，当故障发生时，引入重构容错控制器对原控制器进行补偿控制。最后，建立卫星闭环姿态控制系统对算法进行了仿真验证，仿真结果表明该算法快速可靠，能够满足在轨卫星姿态控制系统故障状况下的性能要求。     

一种采用双视场星敏感器的飞行器姿态角快速、高精度测量方法

针对姿态经常机动的飞行器之间建立激光通信问题,研究了一种针对这种飞行器的姿态角高精度、快速测量新方法.这种姿态角测量方法采用一种由宽、窄两种视场组成的双视场星敏感器,并以0轨道飞行器应用为例进行了姿态角测量仿真:其中的宽视场用于识别北极星,窄视场用于跟踪北极星;通过对北极星方向矢量测量值与其理论值进行比较精确求出了偏航、俯仰和滚动三个姿态角.分析表明,姿态角的角分辨率小于1″;测量过程不需要耗时的星图数据库搜索,一帧图像就可以完成一次快速测量.     

An innovative high accuracy autonomous navigation method for the Mars rovers

Autonomous navigation is an important function for a Mars rover to fulfill missions successfully. It is a critical technique to overcome the limitations of ground tracking and control traditionally used. This paper proposes an innovative method based on SINS (Strapdown Inertial Navigation System) with the aid of star sensors to accurately determine the rover?s position and attitude. This method consists of two parts: the initial alignment and navigation. The alignment consists of a coarse position and attitude initial alignment approach and fine initial alignment approach. The coarse one is used to determine approximate position and attitude for the rover. This is followed by fine alignment to tune the approximate solution to accurate one. Upon the completion of initial alignment, the system can be used to provide real-time navigation solutions for the rover. An autonomous navigation algorithm is proposed to estimate and compensate the accumulated errors of SINS in real time. High accuracy attitude information from star sensor is used to correct errors in SINS. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed methods can achieve a high precision autonomous navigation for Mars rovers.     

基于交叠视场亮度优选算法的导航星库构建方法

星敏感器导航星库直接影响星图识别效率和姿态解算精度。分析了参与姿态解算的星颗数和亮度对姿态精度影响,在此基础上,提出了一种基于交叠视场亮度优选算法的星敏感器导航星库构建方法。将精度较高的Hipparcos星表作为基础星表,分析了星等、双星、自行、变星等对姿态精度的影响,将星库筛选成一个备选星库,生成覆盖全天球的交叠视场。每个拥有较多星的视场,都按照亮度优先原则从视场内的扇形区域中选择导航星,从而得到分布均匀的导航星库。结果表明:该方法能有效减小星敏感器导航星库规模,实现导航星在全天球和局部天区的均匀分布。