Distributed fusion fault-tolerant attitude estimation scheme for nanosatellite using commercial off-the-shelf sensors

Abstract

The highly reliable nanosatellite platforms have broad application prospects in the construction of satellite Internet. Obtaining accurate attitude information is crucial to enhance the reliability of nanosatellite platforms. However, the traditional attitude sensors are not suitable for nanosatellite and attitude sensor faults are the main ones in space field. Therefore, sensor fault detection and fault-tolerant processing are essential to improve the reliability of platforms. In this paper, the distributed fusion fault-tolerant attitude estimation (FTAE) problems for nanosatellite with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors are investigated. Considering the low development cost of nanosatellite platforms, a FTAE scheme using COTS sensors is developed, which can acquire high-precision attitude information and improve the fault tolerance of nanosatellite platforms. Moreover, a novel fault detection method is designed and strict mathematical analysis is applied to fault threshold in FTAE scheme, which can significantly reduce complicated debugging work in engineering application and improve the design efficiency of FTAE scheme. Some case studies are given to illustrate the efficacy of the designed distributed fusion FTAE scheme.