Testing of GPS-Based Attitude Control Systems

James R. O’Donnell Jr., Jon D. McCullough, E. Glenn Lightsey Jr., Richard G. Schnurr and Larry Jackson

Abstract:	Recently, the concept of using GPS receivers on-orbit for navigation, precise timing, and attitude determination has become very popular. Performing some or all of these functions with a single GPS receiver can provide significant savings in spacecraft hardware cost, mass, and power, and reduce operations costs. There are a number of recent or upcoming missions, designed to demonstrate real-time attitude determination, navigation, and/or precise timing. One of the biggest challenges facing these first-generation GPS-based spacecraft experiments is the difficulty of testing such systems. Signals from the GPS constellation are needed to perform many alignment and testing functions, which is difficult to do in a spacecraft integration and test (I&T) environment. Also, because of the newness of the technology, the techniques and infrastructure for performing these tests have not yet been established. GPS receiver testing, GPS antenna alignment, navigation and precise timing system testing, and attitude control system phasing and functional testing all need to be performed in some fashion during the I&T process. This paper will discuss how this testing was done for the GADACS and GADFLY experiments: GADACS, using low-cost, innovative techniques on a very limited budget, and GADFLY, using the equipment for full testing.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1996) September 17 - 20, 1996 Kansas City, MO
Pages:	1063 - 1072
Cite this article:	O’Donnell, James R., Jr., McCullough, Jon D., Lightsey, E. Glenn, Jr., Schnurr, Richard G., Jackson, Larry, "Testing of GPS-Based Attitude Control Systems," Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1996), Kansas City, MO, September 1996, pp. 1063-1072.
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