New observation strategy for X‐ray pulsar navigation using a single detector

Abstract

X-ray pulsar navigation using a single detector will be applied in the spacecraft because of limited payloads. For the limited position precision problem of traditional methods which observe pulsars in turn, this study proposed a new observation strategy. On the basis of the posterior covariance matrix in the Bayesian filter structure, the proposed observation strategy gives priority to the pulsar which minimises the relative degree of divergence. Simulation results verify the validity of the observation strategy.