Recursive mode star identification algorithms

Star identification can be accomplished by several different available algorithms that identify the stars observed by a star tracker. However, efficiency and reliability remain key issues and the availability of new active pixel cameras requires new approaches. Two novel algorithms for recursive mode star identification are presented here. The first approach is derived by the spherical polygon search (SP-search) algorithm, it was used to access all the cataloged stars observed by the sensor field-of-view (FOV) and recursively add/remove candidate cataloged stars according to the predicted image motion induced by camera attitude dynamics. Star identification is then accomplished by a star pattern matching technique which identifies the observed stars in the reference catalog. The second method uses star neighborhood information and a catalog neighborhood pointer matrix to access the star catalog. In the recursive star identification process, and under the assumption of "slow" attitude dynamics, only the stars in the neighborhood of previously identified stars are considered for star identification in the succeeding frames. Numerical tests are performed to validate the absolute and relative efficiency of the proposed methods.     

Pattern recognition of star constellations for spacecraftapplications

A software system for a star imager for online satellite attitude determination is described. The system works with a single standard commercial CCD camera with a high aperture lens and an onboard star catalog. It is capable of both an initial coarse attitude determination without any prior knowledge of the satellite orientation and a high-accuracy attitude determination based on prediction and averaging of several identified star constellations. In the high-accuracy mode the star image aims at an accuracy better than 2 arc sec with a processing time of less than a few seconds. The star imager has been developed for the Danish Oersted satellite     

Star trackers for attitude determination

One problem comes to all spacecrafts using vector information. That is the problem of determining the attitude. This paper describes how the area of attitude determination instruments has evolved from simple pointing devices into the latest technology, which determines the attitude by utilizing a CCD camera and a powerful microcomputer. The instruments are called star trackers and they are capable of determining the attitude with an accuracy better than 1 arcsecond. The concept of the star tracker is explained. The obtainable accuracy is calculated, the numbers of stars to be included in the star catalogue are discussed and the acquisition of the initial attitude is explained. Finally the commercial market for star trackers is discussed     

星点坐标辅助的全天区三角形星图识别算法

随着当前星敏感器视场（FOV）的增大,探测能力的提高,一帧图中拍摄到的恒星更多。但是受星敏感器光谱范围的限制及空间环境干扰影响,星等测试精度一般不高于0.2 mV。为了充分发挥当前星敏感器视场和探测能力的优势,并避免星等误差的影响,提高全天区星图识别算法在线应用的适用性,提出了一种星点坐标辅助的全天区三角形星图识别算法。该方法采用"全局初步搜索识别—局部精细匹配验证—最优结果选取"的算法思想。首先,根据星敏感器探测到的极限星等范围构建导航星表,选取亮星构建角距星表,既确保了星表的完备性,又有利于充分利用星敏感器的探测能力。然后,在三角形约束条件下进行角距匹配识别,得到一个或多个导航三角形,在该识别环节提出了非线性矢量法查找星表,既提高了定位精度,又能采用单精度数据类型降低存储空间。最后,提出局部天区星点坐标匹配算法进一步消除冗余匹配,同时又识别出视场内更多的观测星,有利于提高识别率和定姿精度。试验结果表明,与其他一些经典的星图识别算法相比,所提算法在识别率和星表容量方面更有优势。识别率可达99.9%,且随着星等的增加,存储容量增加的最少。所提算法更加适于大视场、高星等敏感范围的星敏感器在线应用。     

Toward Accurate On-Ground Attitude Determination for the Gaia Spacecraft

The work presented in this paper concerns the accurate On-Ground Attitude (OGA) reconstruction for the astrometry spacecraft Gaia in the presence of disturbance and of control torques acting on the spacecraft. The reconstruction of the expected environmental torques which influence the spacecraft dynamics will be also investigated. The telemetry data from the spacecraft will include the on-board real-time attitude, which is of order of several arcsec. This raw attitude is the starting point for the further attitude reconstruction. The OGA will use the inputs from the field coordinates of known stars (attitude stars) and also the field coordinate differences of objects on the Sky Mapper (SM) and Astrometric Field (AF) payload instruments to improve this raw attitude. The on-board attitude determination uses a Kalman Filter (KF) to minimize the attitude errors and produce a more accurate attitude estimation than the pure star tracker measurement. Therefore the first approach for the OGA will be an adapted version of KF. Furthermore, we will design a batch least squares algorithm to investigate how to obtain a more accurate OGA estimation. Finally, a comparison between these different attitude determination techniques in terms of accuracy, robustness, speed and memory required will be evaluated in order to choose the best attitude algorithm for the OGA. The expected resulting accuracy for the OGA determination will be on the order of milli-arcsec.     

Accuracy performance of star trackers - a tutorial

An autonomous star tracker is an avionics instrument used to provide the absolute 3-axis attitude of a spacecraft utilizing star observations. It consists of an electronic camera and associated processing electronics. The processor has the capability to perform star identification utilizing an internal star catalog stored in firmware and to calculate the attitude quaternion autonomously. Relevant parameters and characteristics of an autonomous star tracker are discussed in detail     

IDENTIFICATION OF GYRO DRIFTS UNDER THREE AXIS ATTITUDE COUPLING

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弹载大视场星惯组合深度融合导航技术

为了降低弹载星惯组合（Stellar-INS）飞行中段对调姿观星的要求，提高星惯组合姿态精度，提出了大视场（LFOV）星惯组合深度融合导航方法。小视场（NFOV）星敏感器输出星矢量为主，大视场星敏感器可同时输出姿态和星矢量信息，分别推导了基于星敏感器输出姿态和星矢量信息的观测方程，分析了星矢量和姿态观测方法之间的关联性。建立了包含星惯安装误差、陀螺误差以及初始平台误差角的星惯组合全误差项模型，基于线性卡尔曼滤波给出了深度融合导航方法。开展了数学仿真验证，分析了不同调姿观星路径约束下，大/小视场星惯组合性能差异。结果表明，大视场星惯组合深度融合导航方法不仅可以降低调姿观星约束要求，还可以实现组合姿态性能提升。     

一种基于星座匹配的全天自主星图识别算法

讨论了一种新的无须任何先验知识的星图识别算法。通过对导航星座数据库进行调整和最大限度地利用了已识别基元所提供的匹配信息,使得算法的计算量和存储容量与传统的三角形匹配算法相当。ＭｏｎｔｅＣａｒｌｏ 模拟表明,在星等误差０．５ 星等（３σ）,位置误差１０ 角秒（１σ） 时,算法的识别成功率接近１００％ 。     

The Juno Magnetic Field Investigation

The Juno Magnetic Field investigation (MAG) characterizes Jupiter’s planetary magnetic field and magnetosphere, providing the first globally distributed and proximate measurements of the magnetic field of Jupiter. The magnetic field instrumentation consists of two independent magnetometer sensor suites, each consisting of a tri-axial Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM) sensor and a pair of co-located imaging sensors mounted on an ultra-stable optical bench. The imaging system sensors are part of a subsystem that provides accurate attitude information (to ～20 arcsec on a spinning spacecraft) near the point of measurement of the magnetic field. The two sensor suites are accommodated at 10 and 12 m from the body of the spacecraft on a 4 m long magnetometer boom affixed to the outer end of one of ’s three solar array assemblies. The magnetometer sensors are controlled by independent and functionally identical electronics boards within the magnetometer electronics package mounted inside Juno’s massive radiation shielded vault. The imaging sensors are controlled by a fully hardware redundant electronics package also mounted within the radiation vault. Each magnetometer sensor measures the vector magnetic field with 100 ppm absolute vector accuracy over a wide dynamic range (to 16 Gauss = \(1.6 \times 10^{6}\mbox{ nT}\) per axis) with a resolution of ～0.05 nT in the most sensitive dynamic range (±1600 nT per axis). Both magnetometers sample the magnetic field simultaneously at an intrinsic sample rate of 64 vector samples per second. The magnetic field instrumentation may be reconfigured in flight to meet unanticipated needs and is fully hardware redundant. The attitude determination system compares images with an on-board star catalog to provide attitude solutions (quaternions) at a rate of up to 4 solutions per second, and may be configured to acquire images of selected targets for science and engineering analysis. The system tracks and catalogs objects that pass through the imager field of view and also provides a continuous record of radiation exposure. A spacecraft magnetic control program was implemented to provide a magnetically clean environment for the magnetic sensors, and residual spacecraft fields and/or sensor offsets are monitored in flight taking advantage of Juno’s spin (nominally 2 rpm) to separate environmental fields from those that rotate with the spacecraft.     

Precession–nutation correction for star tracker attitude measurement of STECE satellite

Space Technology Experiment and Climate Exploration(STECE) is a small satellite mission of China for space technology experiment and climate exploration. A new test star tracker and one ASTRO 10 star tracker have been loaded on the STECE satellite to test the new star tracker's measurement performance. However,there is no autonomous precession–nutation correction function for the test star tracker,which causes an apparent periodic deflection in the inter-boresight angle between the two star trackers with respect to each other of up to ±500 arcsec,so the precession and nutation effect needs to be considered while assessing the test star tracker. This paper researches on the precession–nutation correction for the test star tracker's attitude measurement and presents a precession–nutation correction method based on attitude quaternion data. The periodic deflection of the inter-boresight angle between the two star trackers has been greatly eliminated after the precession and nutation of the test star tracker's attitude data have been corrected by the proposed method and the validity of the proposed algorithm has been demonstrated. The in-flight accuracy of the test star tracker has been assessed like attitude noise and low-frequency errors after the precession–nutation correction.     

SINS辅助的星敏感器在线标定方法

航天器在飞行过程中,星敏感器受到外界温度、地面标定精度等因素影响存在较大的安装误差,这将严重影响星敏感器的定姿精度。为提高星敏感器精度,对其安装误差进行严格的在轨实时标定与修正是确保星敏感器测量精度的关键。提出了一种SINS辅助的在线标定方法,将SINS/星敏感器输出的姿态信息进行配准,构建了组合导航系统的Kalman滤波模型。该方法只需航天器在飞行过程中做简单的机动,即可对星敏感器的安装误差角进行实时在线标定。仿真结果表明,采用该标定方法可使星敏感器和惯导的安装误差角的总体估计率达到95%以上,具有较高的工程应用价值。     

Pattern recognition of star constellations for spacecraftapplications

A software system for a star imager for on-line satellite attitude determination is described. The system works with a single standard commercial CCD-camera with a high aperture lens and an onboard star catalogue. It is capable of both an initial course attitude determination without any prior knowledge of the satellite orientation and a high-accuracy attitude determination based on prediction and averaging of several identified star constellations. In the high accuracy mode the star imager aims at an accuracy better than 2 arc sec with a processing time of less than a few seconds. The star imager is developed for the Danish microsatellite Oersted     

基于QTM的导航星库划分方法

为了提高星敏感器观测星的检索速度,提出了一种基于球面四元三角网(Quaternary Triangular Mesh,QTM)的导航星库划分方法.该方法首先利用天球的内接正八面体把全天球划分成8个子天区,然后在每个子天区中进行与经纬度相关的剖分和编码,最后扫描恒星星表,把每颗导航星信息划归到相应的子天区内存储.利用此星库进行的局部天球星图识别仿真实验表明该星库具有很高的检索效率.     

一种星敏感器-陀螺组合定姿的实时在轨标定方法

研究了一种星敏感器一陀螺组合定姿方式中的姿态敏感器误差的实时在轨标定方法。首先,选择直观的欧拉角作为姿态描述参数,根据星敏感器和陀螺的测量原理建立星敏感器一陀螺在轨标定的测量方程和状态方程,并以此建立数学模型。其次,采用简单高效的EKF（ExtendedKalmanFilter,扩展卡尔曼滤波）作为估值算法,进行了在轨标定数值仿真。对于航天器姿态定向中出现的姿态角和星敏感器安装角之间的耦合问题,通过在特定姿态通道上施加简单姿态机动实现了解耦。数值结果表明,该实时在轨标定方法,尤其是所提出的姿态角和星敏感器安装角解耦策略,可以实现对航天器姿态的实时精确估计以及对星敏感器安装误差、陀螺常值漂移和相关漂移等误差的实时在轨标定。该方法可用于航天器姿态测量设备的实时在轨标定和航天器姿态的高精度实时确定。     

Low-frequency Periodic Error Identification and Compensation for Star Tracker Attitude Measurement

The low-frequency periodic error of star tracker is one of the most critical problems for high-accuracy satellite attitude determination.In this paper an approach is proposed to identify and compensate the low-frequency periodic error for star tracker in attitude measurement.The analytical expression between the estimated gyro drift and the low-frequency periodic error of star tracker is derived firstly.And then the low-frequency periodic error,which can be expressed by Fourier series,is identified by the frequency spectrum of the estimated gyro drift according to the solution of the first step.Furthermore,the compensated model of the low-frequency periodic error is established based on the identified parameters to improve the attitude determination accuracy.Finally,promising simulated experimental results demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method.The periodic error for attitude determination is eliminated basically and the estimation precision is improved greatly.     

惯性+星光折射定位组合导航技术研究

由于现有惯性器件精度水平有限,纯惯性导航误差较大,因此需要采用组合导航的方式来提高导航精度。目前,全自主组合导航方式中传统的惯性+星光定姿组合导航方法只能实现定姿,不能实现定位,无法修正加速度表测量误差引起的惯性导航误差,故在精度上可提升空间有限。为此,提出了一种惯性+星光折射定位组合导航方法,重点从星光折射定位原理、大气折射模型、非线性滤波和选星策略几个方面进行论证及分析。通过理论分析与数学仿真相结合的手段,验证了星光折射定位原理的正确性及工程可行性,可将自主导航精度提升至100m,从而为进一步提高自主导航精度提供了一种技术途径。     

Linearization errorʼs measure and its influence on the accuracy of MEKF based attitude determination method

Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter (MEKF) is one of the most widely used satellite attitude estimation methods. However, the linearization error?s influence is an inherent limitation of this method. In this paper, we aim to analyze this linearization error in the typical satellite attitude determination system with star sensors and gyros. The formulation of linearization error is first derived and the curvature metric is then employed to measure the linearization error. Additionally, we show the reason why linearization error has influence on the performance of MEKF. Based on these analyses, we point out that star sensors? sampling frequency, initial estimated error and accuracy of gyro?s measurement model are the factors that could enlarge the system model?s linearization error. They all affect the linearization error and attitude determination accuracy by decreasing the predicted accuracy. More concretely, the influence of star sensor?s sampling frequency is large, while initial estimated error and gyro?s measurement error within a certain range have little influence on MEKF. Finally, combined with plenty of experiments, validity of the above analyses is verified.     

Spacecraft design considerations for small satellite remote sensing

The idea of adapting existing small satellite technology for remote sensing purposes is discussed. The major design problems and constraints influencing the design of a small low-cost remote sensing satellite bus are identified using the subsystem approach. Key design areas include the improvement of battery technology and the development of a deployable solar array, attitude control assemblies, on-board data processing/storage, and ground station data acquisition. Although the eventual satellite would also have to be somewhat larger, more powerful and, above all, more sophisticated than the previous small satellites, this is considered to be a natural progression of research in this area     

星敏感器安装误差标定技术研究

星敏感器是一类具有自主高精度姿态测量能力的仪器,输出姿态精度可达到角秒级。但实际组合导航应用中,星敏感器安装误差往往可达角分级,远远大于仪器本身误差,影响其使用品质,因此有必要在使用前对星敏感器安装误差进行建模标定。研究发现,星敏感器安装误差与惯导姿态误差存在耦合关系,难于分离。设计了一种快速标定方法,利用惯导输出姿态、位置信息以及星敏感器姿态输出构造观测量,建立卡尔曼滤波模型,通过滤波估计实现安装误差的地面标定。仿真结果表明,载体需要进行2个轴向上的机动才能将星敏感器三轴安装误差估计出来。相较于依靠外部基准姿态进行标定的方案,本方法具有快速高效、可操作性强等优点。