Tripulse: A system for determining orientation and attitude of a satellite borne active phased array

Author

Silverstein, Seth D. ; Ashe, Jeffrey M. ; Kautz, Gregory M. ; Wheeler, Frederick W. ; Jacomb-Hood, Anthony

Author_Institution

GE Corporate Res. & Dev., Niskayuna, NY, USA

Volume

38

Issue

1

fYear

2002

fDate

1/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2

Lastpage

12

Abstract

Tripulse is a novel system that is designed to accurately estimate the orientation of a satellite borne phased array relative to one or more Earth stations. It has conceptual similarities to amplitude comparison monopulse systems used in tracking radars. Tripulse differs from monopulse in that it is applicable primarily to transmitting active phased arrays aboard communication satellites. The signaling structure consists of a minimum of three separate time multiplexed coherent pulses. A statistical performance analysis and a description of the methodology for converting multiple ground station orientation data to attitude estimates are presented

Keywords

active antenna arrays; antenna phased arrays; satellite antennas; active phased array; attitude estimation; communication satellite; ground station; orientation estimation; tripulse system; Artificial satellites; Frequency; Phase estimation; Phased arrays; Position measurement; Radar tracking; Satellite ground stations; Sensor arrays; Sensor systems; Spaceborne radar;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9251

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/7.993224

Filename

993224