Accuracy performance of star trackers - a tutorial

Author

Liebe, Carl Christian

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

38

Issue

2

fYear

2002

fDate

4/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

587

Lastpage

599

Abstract

An autonomous star tracker is an avionics instrument used to provide the absolute 3-axis attitude of a spacecraft utilizing star observations. It consists of an electronic camera and associated processing electronics. The processor has the capability to perform star identification utilizing an internal star catalog stored in firmware and to calculate the attitude quaternion autonomously. Relevant parameters and characteristics of an autonomous star tracker are discussed in detail

Keywords

CCD image sensors; attitude control; attitude measurement; avionics; calibration; firmware; focal planes; space vehicle electronics; S-curve errors; absolute 3-axis attitude; accuracy performance; algorithmic errors; attitude quaternion; autonomous star tracker; avionics instrument; calibration errors; electronic camera; firmware; focal plane; internal star catalog; noise equivalent angle; pattern recognition; pinhole star tracker; processing electronics; radiometric calculations; sensitivity to starlight; spacecraft; star centroiding; star detection threshold; star identification; subpixel centroiding; tutorial; Aerospace electronics; Instruments; Laboratories; Microcomputers; Microprogramming; Position measurement; Propulsion; Space technology; Space vehicles; Tutorial;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9251

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TAES.2002.1008988

Filename

1008988