Abstract This paper presents a study on attitude estimation during the Plasma Brake Experiment (PBE) onboard a small satellite. The PBE demands that the satellite be spun at a very high angular velocity, up to , to deploy the tether using centrifugal force. The spin controller, based on purely magnetic actuation, and the PBE demands accurate attitude estimation for the successful execution of the experiment. The biases are important to be estimated onboard small satellites due to the closely integrated systems and relatively higher interference experienced by the sensors. However, bias estimation is even more important for PBE due to the presence of a high voltage unit, onboard the satellite, that is used to charge the tether and can be the source of interference. The attitude and the biases, when estimated simultaneously, results in an augmented state vector that poses a challenge to the proper tuning of process noise. The adaptation of process noise covariance has, therefore, been studied and analysed for the challenging PBE. It has been observed that adapting the process noise covariance improves the estimation accuracy during the spin-up phase. Therefore, it is very important to use adaptive process noise covariance estimation.
Highlights Analyses attitude estimation performance of Aalto-1 for deorbiting experiment phase. Efficient spinning up of a small satellite demands precise attitude knowledge. Continous adaptation of UKF process noise provides efficient satellite spin control. Adaptive attitude estimation provides more efficient spinup phase than non-adaptive. Continous adaptation reduces the energy consumed for the satellite spin up.
Small satellite attitude determination during plasma brake deorbiting experiment
Acta Astronautica ; 129 ; 52-58
2016-08-28
7 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Small satellite attitude determination during plasma brake deorbiting experiment
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