Navigation Using Pulsars and Other Variable Celestial Sources

Sheikh, Suneel I.

doi:10.1002/9781119458555.ch52

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…If only the Sun's influence is included, assuming that the spacecraft is in a heliocentric orbit, the integral can be directly evaluated given the semi-major axis a and the starting and ending eccentric anomalies E 0 and E f , respectively: 9,19…”

Section: Time Dilationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7,8 Sheikh was the first to envision the use of XNAV for solving the cold-start problem with only an onboard clock and stored pulsar models. 9 More recently, Lohan developed the first XNAV algorithm to solve the cold-start problem in two dimensions, with some limited analyses in three dimensions. 10 The key concept for using XNAV to solve the cold-start problem is as follows: the phase of a pulsar's signal may be determined from observations, and the observer can be on any wavefront whose phase is equal to the observed value.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Norm-Minimization Algorithm for Solving the Cold-Start Problem with XNAV

Hou¹,

Putnam²

2023

Preprint

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An algorithm is presented for solving the cold-start problem using observations of X-ray pulsars. Using a norm-minimization-based approach, the algorithm extends Lohan's bandederror intersection model to 3-dimensional space while reducing compute time by an order of magnitude. Higher-fidelity X-ray pulsar signal models, including the parallax effect, Shapiro delay, time dilation, and higher-order pulsar timing models, are considered. The feasibility of solving the cold-start problem using X-ray pulsar navigation is revisited with the improved models and prior knowledge requirements are discussed. Monte Carlo simulations are used to establish upper bounds on uncertainty and determine the accuracy of the algorithm. Results indicate that it is necessary to account for the parallax effect, time dilation, and higher-order pulsar timing models in order to successfully determine the position of the spacecraft in a cold-start scenario. The algorithm can uniquely identify a candidate spacecraft position within a 10 AU × 10 AU × 0.01 AU spheroid domain by observing eight to nine pulsars. The median position error of the algorithm is on the order of 15 km. Prior knowledge of spacecraft position is technically required, but only to an accuracy of 100 AU, making it practically unnecessary for navigation within the Solar System. Results further indicate that choosing lower frequency pulsars increases the maximum domain size but also increases position error.

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Section: Time Dilationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Norm-Minimization Algorithm for Solving the Cold-Start Problem with XNAV

Hou¹,

Putnam²

2023

Preprint

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“…To eliminate the dependence on the beacon link and improve autonomy, a pulsar vector observation-based acquisition method is proposed. Pulsars are neutron stars in space and emit signals over a wide spectrum, which include radio waves, visible light, X-rays, and gamma rays [23,24]. Of the emitted signals, X-ray pulsar signals show low attenuation and good radiation directivity [25,26], making them suitable for attitude determination [27].…”

Section: X-ray Communication (Xcom) Is a Revolutionary Technique In S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pulsar Vector Observation-Based Link Acquisition Method for X-Ray Communications

Song,

Lu,

Wang

2023

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

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X-ray communication (XCOM) is an emerging laser communication technique for deep space applications. Traditional link acquisition of laser communications depends significantly on Earth support and shows little autonomy. For XCOM, a pulsar vector observation-based link acquisition method is proposed, which utilizes noncooperative pulsars in deep space as beacons to acquire absolute attitude information and accomplish link acquisition. Firstly, a pulsar vector observation model was established based on the coordinate definition of the X-ray detector and X-ray collimator model. Secondly, a modified “success-failure” pulsar vector search algorithm with two degrees of freedom was proposed to acquire the pulsar vector. With the pulsar vector and the relative attitude obtained from inertial sensors, the link acquisition pointing vector could be determined. Finally, the performance of the proposed method was evaluated using numerical experiments, and factors that influence the performance are discussed and analyzed.

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“…Throughout the solar system, pulsars, which are a type of high-speed spinning neutron star, are useful in aquiring a spacecraft's alttitude, location, and time (Guo et al 2018;Sheikh & Pines 2006;Xiaolin et al 2018). Navigation using pulsars, particularly X-ray pulsar navigation (XNAV; Li et al 2018;Sheikh 2005), has become a popular autonomous navigation method. However, most spacecraft still rely, directly or indirectly, on a ground station to obtain their position parameters, which increases the ground station's burden.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pulsar signals have a stable period, and their time of arrival (TOA) in the solar system barycentric (SSB) reference frame can be predicted accurately by a phase prediction model (Sheikh 2005;Wang et al 2017). Thus, when a detector captures a signal, the recorded phase is translated to the SSB reference frame to be compared with the the results of the phase-prediction model (Ashby & Howe 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of a Satellite Navigation System Using X-Ray Pulsars

Zhang

Rong

et al. 2019

PASP

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The ephemeris of a pulsar is stable for a long time, which allows navigation based on pulsar orientation to be vector feasible. The formation of a satellite navigation model using the orientation vector of an X-ray pulsar signal is presented in this paper. To obtain the time difference of arrival (TDOA), a new estimation method is constructed, which can measure the photon sequence of an X-ray pulsar signal and is based on the fast Fourier transform (FFT). Next, three new observation variables are constructed. The variables are satellite phase incrementation; the angle between the satellite baseline and the pulsar direction vector; and the angle between the plane spanned by three satellite baselines and the pulsar direction vector. All three variables, along with the TDOA of the X-ray pulsar signal, are utilized to determine the orbit. The position and velocity of the satellite formations are estimated by using the adaptive divided difference filter (ADDF) to eliminate nonlinearity. Several simulation cases are designed to verify the proposed method.

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Navigation Using Pulsars and Other Variable Celestial Sources

Cited by 9 publications

References 63 publications

A Norm-Minimization Algorithm for Solving the Cold-Start Problem with XNAV

A Norm-Minimization Algorithm for Solving the Cold-Start Problem with XNAV

A Pulsar Vector Observation-Based Link Acquisition Method for X-Ray Communications

Formation of a Satellite Navigation System Using X-Ray Pulsars

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