Precise Evaluation of Orbital GPS Attitude Determination on the STS-77 GPS Attitude and Navigation Experiment (GANE)

J. Russell Carpenter, Roger M. Hain

Abstract:	A recent Shuttle mission, STS-77, carried the GPS At- titude and Navigation Experiment (GANE), the high- est priority of a series of risk mitigation experiments being performed by the Shuttle program for the In- ternational Space Station (ISS) program. The GANE was a flight test of the ISS attitude determination and navigation systems, which consist of a multi-antenna interferometric GPS receiver for attitude determina- tion and navigation, and a ring-laser rate gyro system for attitude rate determination. The purpose of GANE was to determine if the proposed ISS attitude determi- nation and navigation system could meet ISS require- ments in attitude, position, and semi-major axis. The Space Shuttle attitude reference system was used to determine the performance of attitude solutions from the GANE GPS receiver, a Trimble Advanced Naviga- tion System Vector. These results are the first precise evaluation of a long baseline (1.5-3 meter) GPS atti- tude determination system in a space environment on- board an actively maneuvering and highly multipath- susceptible vehicle. The receiver generated attitude solutions which generally tracked the Orbiter attitude during all data takes, in several ambiguity resolution and satellite selection modes. Comparisons to the ref- erence indicate periods of performance at the 0.1-0.2 degrees per axis level, and also periods of performance at the 0.3-0.4 degree per axis level.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 1997 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 14 - 16, 1997 Loews Santa Monica Hotel Santa Monica, CA
Pages:	387 - 397
Cite this article:	Carpenter, J. Russell, Hain, Roger M., "Precise Evaluation of Orbital GPS Attitude Determination on the STS-77 GPS Attitude and Navigation Experiment (GANE)," Proceedings of the 1997 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Santa Monica, CA, January 1997, pp. 387-397.
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