A novel decentralized relative navigation algorithm for spacecraft formation flying

Abstract

This paper presents a novel decentralized relative navigation algorithm. The relative motion equations are derived in the Earth-Centered-Inertial frame. The relative measurements contain not only the line of sight and range between the deputy and the chief, but also the ranges among different deputies. This helps to improve the redundancy and accuracy of the relative navigation for spacecraft formation flying. In decentralized estimation algorithm, it is necessary to transmit the global states in the formation to linearize the ranges among the deputies. A sigma-point method is used to account for the uncertainty in the estimated states of other spacecraft. The relative measurements are coupled with the relative motion equation in a novel decentralized filter to determine the relative position and velocity. Simulation shows that the proposed novel decentralized estimation algorithm provides better performance than the traditional iteration algorithm.

Fully Decentralized Cooperative Navigation for Spacecraft Constellations

“…Previous work on decentralized navigation systems focused on developing decentralized estimation algorithms [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] . The Full Order Extended Kalman Filter (FOEKF) was developed to enable each spacecraft to operate a navigation subsystem and process its own measurements [10][11] .…”

Robust decentralised state estimation for formation flying spacecraft

“…global positioning system GPS) are used to determine the absolute/relative state vectors [9–11] due to their advantages in providing absolute measurements. However, GPS receiver is not suitable for high earth orbit (HEO) and deep‐space formation flying because the GPS signal is not available in these cases [8, 12]. In this paper, we consider the relative navigation problem using Exteroceptive sensors.…”

Fault detection and isolation of satellite gyroscopes using relative positions in formation flying

“…Satellite-to-satellite tracking (SST) methods [26] can be used for RN as well. SST can be attained using different kinds of measurements; range [27,28], range rate [29], line-of-sight vectors [30,31], and combinations of them [32,33,34]. Prior research also considers the dynamical behavior of satellites in FF including perturbations [35,36].…”