A new star identification algorithm based on fuzzy line pattern matching

A new star identification algorithm based on fuzzy line pattern matching is proposed for satellite attitude determination. In this algorithm, the star point pattern convert to line pattern by “Delaunay triangulation” method, then we present a fuzzy line pattern matching. In this method, we use the membership functions to describe position, orientation and relation similarities between different line segments. The simulation results based on the “Desktop Universes Star images” demonstrate that the fuzzy star pattern recognition algorithm speeds up the process of star identification and increases the rate of success greatly compared with traditional triangle matching algorithms that use the angular separations as the identification feature.