Using GPS For Position& Attitude Determination Of The Canadian Space Agency’s Active Rocket Mission

Patrick C. Fenton, Waldemar Kunysz, Greg Garbe

Abstract:	The use of GPS for Position and Attitude determination has been exploited for many years. In these prior art systems, it was required that the multiple antenna systems maintain phase lock to common view satellites for long periods of time in order to determine integer ambiguities. The challenge with the ballistic space probe to overcome is the high rotational spin of this particular rocket. The antennas, mounted on the outside skin of the rocket, are only in fill view of each satellite for a fraction of a second before the rocket core eclipses them, as it rotates. The antennas rarely see common satellites. This paper describes a system that overcomes these obstacles and provides position, acceleration. attitude, and rotatllon rate. The approach uses a 2-antenna system. One antenna is mounted either side of the rocket facing out. A hybrid tracking channel combines signals from both antennas to overcome the signal blockage due to the rocket core as well as to defeat the affect on the tracking channel due to the spin. The amplitude and phase of the spin rotation signature from each satellite is extracted from I he dual antenna data and used to compute the attitude and spin rate of the vehicle.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1998) September 15 - 18, 1998 Nashville, TN
Pages:	1791 - 1800
Cite this article:	Fenton, Patrick C., Kunysz, Waldemar, Garbe, Greg, "Using GPS For Position& Attitude Determination Of The Canadian Space Agency’s Active Rocket Mission," Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1998), Nashville, TN, September 1998, pp. 1791-1800.
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