Attitude sensor calibration for the ocean topography experiment satellite

Abstract

A ground-based software system to calibrate the attitude control sensors for the Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX) spacecraft is described. The algorithm determines sensor misalignment, bias and scale factor errors from gyro, sun sensor and star tracker measurements. The inherent yaw slew motion of the spacecraft during normal mission mode is exploited to make the error parameters observable. A two loop recursive least-squares algorithm is implemented with the feature of inhibiting the update of the error parameter state until all of the available data has been processed. This feature eliminates the estimation state feedback typical of other algorithms which can cause instability and convergence problems.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.