Reliable Distributed Integrated Navigation Based on CI during Mars Entry

Abstract

A reliable distributed covariance intersection (CI) fusion integrated navigation algorithm with information feedback during the Mars atmospheric entry is proposed to meet robust, reliable, and high-precision Mars atmospheric entry navigation strategy. A distributed integrated navigation scheme includes four independent subsystems consisting of an IMU and one radio beacon, but each subsystem is weakly observable under limited Mars entry measurements. The scalar weights are fast obtained by maximizing the information contribution of the corresponding estimate. The distributed framework based upon the CI fusion algorithm is designed by using dynamic information distribution coefficients and information feedback strategy. This distributed fusion approach could meet the lower computation cost and robust and reliable capacity and especially is beneficial to the weakly observable or unobservable subsystems during the Mars entry navigation scheme. Numerical simulations show that the proposed distributed CI fusion integrated navigation algorithm can provide consistent navigation accuracy for the Mars entry vehicle and improve the entry navigation robustness under the weakly observable navigation subsystems.