A Comparison of GPS-based Attitude Estimation Techniques for Spinning Satellite

Penina Axelrad and Charles Behre

Abstract:	This paper describes several techniques for the determination of the attitude of a spinning satellite using GPS. Because both spinning satellites and GPS receivers have the potential to provide high reliability at low cost, the combination of the two is quite promising. Furthermore, the kinematics of spinning satellites provide unique advantages for GPS-based attitude estimation. GPS antennas mounted on the satellite’s rim are constantly undergoing large displacements, and phase difference measurements can be used to determine the oscillating displacement vector between the two antennas. Previously, Martin-Niera and Lucas [5] showed that by analyzing these measurements in the frequency domain, one can determine vehicle attitude, nutation angle, body nutation rate, and inertial nutation rate. The spin frequencies appear as spikes in the frequency domain and the attitude is related to the amplitude of the spikes. Alternative time domain techniques can be used to estimate the instantaneous angular velocity which is related to the principle spin frequencies. The spacecraft attitude can then be derived by averaging the vector perpendicular to the antenna displacement. A comparison is made between the performance of these techniques when applied to a simulated spinning satellite. Analysis focuses on the effect of nutrition angle magnitude on the accuracy of the different algorithms and their relative advantages and disadvantages. Simulation results indicated that frequency domain techniques perform quite well with large nutation angles; whereas a Kalman Filter approach is superior for small nutation angles.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 8th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1995) September 12 - 15, 1995 Palm Springs, CA
Pages:	1785 - 1796
Cite this article:	Axelrad, Penina, Behre, Charles, "A Comparison of GPS-based Attitude Estimation Techniques for Spinning Satellite," Proceedings of the 8th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1995), Palm Springs, CA, September 1995, pp. 1785-1796.
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