The Sensitivity of an Autonomous Navigation Landmark Tracking System Due to the Variability of Landmark Availability and Distribution

James F. Rychel

Abstract:	An autonomous navigation landmark tracking system is investigated via covariance analysis. The objective of the analysis is to investigate the dependence of the steady state error covariance on the number or known landmarks available for tracking and the landmark distribution. The analysis does not seek to determine "optimum" numbers of landmarks and landmark locations since these depend upon the specifics of a given tracker as well as a particular· orbit. Bather, the analysis is to determine the potential accuracies possible using a set of landmarks not specifically chosen for any individual satellite. A generic tracker model is used together with a family of trajectories to determine the sensitivities of the error covariance to landmark variabilities. Criteria for determining convergence (i.e., reaching an identifiable steady state) are first established. Then, using multiple landmark files which were randomly extracted from one large master file, a Monte Carlo like series of simulations were run for the trajectories under consideration. Percentages or the simulations falling into various categories are reported for a variety of landmark file sizes and composite statistics and sensitivities are reported for those runs which did converge.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1986) June 24 - 26, 1986 Seattle, Washington
Pages:	146 - 155
Cite this article:	Rychel, James F., "The Sensitivity of an Autonomous Navigation Landmark Tracking System Due to the Variability of Landmark Availability and Distribution," Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1986), Seattle, Washington, June 1986, pp. 146-155.
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