Transactions of Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics
CubeSat Autonomous Orbit Determination Based on Magnetometer and Sun Sensor Data
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Abstract:
CubeSats have evolved from purely educational tools to a standard platform for technology demonstration, scientific instrumentation and application in less than a decade. They open the door to new challenges and interplanetary missions which lead to the direct realization of autonomous orbit determination (AOD) which has been investigated before with different integrated sensors combined with various filters. Mostly these studies were carried out for larger satellites with more accurate sensors. Magnetometer and sun sensor combined with extended Kalman filter (EKF) are chosen to complete AOD task considering their light weight. For the purpose of AOD and the computational cost requirements imposed on CubeSats, it is important to develop and apply low cost onboard models. In this perspective, a magnetic model based on a table look up is proposed to generate the reference magnetic field with a low computational burden. In current article the simulations through Matlab and Satellites Tool Kit (STK) especially focus on the accuracy of the AOD system provided by this model. For analysis three EKFs are carried out with different calculation models and data types. The system based on the proposed model is fully autonomous, low-cost and has moderateaccuracy required by most CubeSats missions. The AOD system can be applied as main or backup system depending on the space missions′ demands.
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