Abstract :
A system is presented that uses dual-redundant Earth sensors to measure pitch and roll errors of a three-axis stabilized space craft, with provision for autonomously detecting and identifying a faulty Earth sensor, and automatically selecting the outputs of the fault-free sensor for closed-loop attitude control, before failures cause major problems. A brief description is given of the system, and various failure modes of Earth sensors and their effects are discussed. Novel techniques and algorithms for automatic fault detection, identification, and reconfiguration (FDIR) of dual-redundant Earth sensors are developed. The algorithms are validated through computer simulations, and the results are presented. The proposed scheme can easily be implemented without much penalty on hardware, power consumption, and processing time.<>
Keywords :
aerospace computer control; aerospace computing; aerospace instrumentation; attitude control; detectors; digital simulation; fault location; redundancy; aerospace instrumentation; automatic fault detection; closed-loop attitude control; computer simulations; dual-redundant Earth sensors; failure modes; fault tolerance; fault-free sensor; identification; pitch errors; reconfiguration; roll errors; three-axis stabilized space craft; Computer simulation; Earth; Error correction; Extraterrestrial measurements; Fault detection; Fault diagnosis; Fault tolerance; Hardware; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Sensor systems;
