On deterministic approaches to attitude determination with magnometer in eclipse

Abstract

A gyroless deterministic attitude determination algorithm based on simulation of sun in eclipse is stated in this paper and has been compared to stochastic filters like extended Kalman filter and unscented Kalman filter. Attitude determination with low cost sensors such as magnometer and sun sensor results in usage of recursive algorithms such as Kalman filter which has the probability of divergence, but with deterministic point to point algorithm such as the one introduced in this paper we can be sure to have an attitude determination with a fixed maximum error. Proposed method has been compared with Extended Kalman Filter and Unscented Kalman filter due to its modeling error, robustness and amount of calculations. Attitude determination is based on magnetic sensors and sun sensors. Solar panels are modeled for a hexagonal satellite as an alternative for sun sensors and sun vector is derived from panels current.