Atttiude Estimation for Small, Agile Spacecraft

非常小的航天器日益被视为进行具有成本效益和反应灵敏的空间飞行任务的有效平台。立方体卫星和纳米卫星级航天器曾经被认为只适合于技术演示，现在在苛刻的环境中具有重要的飞行传统。随着这些航天器能力的扩展，设计人员要求卫星子系统具有更好的性能。在航天器姿态估计领域，这种改进性能的努力尤为突出。本提案审查了在为非常小的航天器设计传感器和综合姿态估计系统方面遇到的挑战。这些任务不仅需要航天器定向的精确知识，而且许多新兴的地球观测（EO）卫星服务应用，以及低地球轨道（LEO）以外的任务要求在卫星快速运动时提供这种姿态知识。克服这些技术和操作挑战需要与传统卫星工程中遇到的设计方法显著不同的设计方法。所提出的研究结合了设计权衡的研究，详细分析了单传感器和多传感器估计系统。**高级仿真用于进行系统级权衡研究和设计优化。更详细的传感器处理和估计技术首先进行分析评估，然后使用Matlab和Zemax的传感器操作的详细模拟进行验证。新的处理算法可以在各种工程模型星星跟踪器和激光雷达系统的实验室实验中进行评估和测试。这种全面的开发和验证方法有助于成熟的创新，使其适合与行业合作伙伴一起进行后续项目。*我们希望，这项研究将导致高性能的姿态估计敏捷立方体和纳米卫星的实践中的改进。这些进展将使使命设计人员（更好的权衡研究和设计工具）、姿态确定和控制工程师（定制的估计和信号处理算法）和航空电子设备开发人员（运动补偿和其他传感器专用创新）受益。

Very small spacecraft are increasingly seen as a valid platform for cost-effective and responsive space missions. Once considered suitable only for technology demonstrations cubesat and nanosatellite class spacecraft now have significant flight heritage in demanding environments. As the capabilities of these spacecraft expand, designers require better performance from the satellites' subsystems. This push towards improved performance is particularly acute in the area of spacecraft attitude estimation.***This proposal examines the challenges encountered in designing sensors and integrated attitude estimation systems for very small spacecraft. Not only do these missions demand precise knowledge of spacecraft orientation but many emerging applications for Earth-Observation (EO) satellite servicing, and missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) require that this attitude knowledge be available when the satellite is undergoing rapid motion. Accommodating these technical and operational challenges requires design approaches significantly different than what is encountered in traditional satellite engineering. The proposed research combines design trade-studies with detailed analysis of single-sensor and multi-sensor estimation systems. ***The proposed program of research relies on a number of complementary methodologies. High-level simulations are used to conduct system-level trade studies and design optimization. More detailed sensor processing and estimation techniques are first evaluated analytically and then validated with detailed simulations of sensor operation using Matlab and Zemax. New processing algorithms can be evaluated and tested in laboratory experiments on a variety of engineering-model star trackers and LIDAR systems. This comprehensive approach to development and validation helps mature innovations to the point that they are suitable for follow-on projects in conjunction with industry partners.***We expect that this research will lead to improvements in the practice of high-performance attitude estimation for agile cubesats and nanosatellites. These advances will benefit mission designers (better trade studies and design tools), attitude determination and control engineers (tailored estimation and signal processing algorithms), and avionics developers (motion compensation and other sensor-specific innovations).********