On deterministic approaches to attitude determination with magnometer in eclipse

Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors

Fault detection and isolation algorithms for LEO satellite attitude determination and control system using an approach for checking the statistical characteristics of EKF innovation sequence are proposed. The fault detection algorithm is based on statistic for the mathematical expectation of the spectral norm of the normalized innovation matrix of the EKF. This approach permits simultaneous real-time checking of the mathematical expectation and the variance of the innovation sequence and does not require a priori information about the faults and statistical characteristics of the system in fault cases. In this study an attitude estimation and control system for LEO satellite is proposed. To determine the attitude of the satellite, this system use algebraic method (two-vector algorithm). As a reference direction, the unit vectors toward the Sun, the Earth’s center, and the Earth magnetic field are used. Thus, it includes three different two-vector algorithms based on using the Earth’s magnetic field – the Sun vector, the Earth’s magnetic field – nadir vector, and nadir vector – the Sun vector couples. In order to increase the attitude determination accuracy, the redundant data processing algorithm, based on the Maximum Likelihood Method, is used. An extended Kalman filter has been developed for nonlinear rotational dynamics estimation of LEO satellite. Failures in the sensors affect the characteristics of the innovation sequence of the EKF. The failures that affect the mean and variance of the innovation sequence have been considered. The application of the proposed fault detection algorithm to the LEO satellite attitude determination and control system has shown that, sensor fault detection by the presented algorithm is possible in real time. Assuming that the effect of the faulty sensor on its channel is more significant than on the other channels, a sensor isolation method is presented by transforming n-dimensional innovation process to n one-dimensional processes. The simulations, carried out on a nonlinear dynamic model of the rotational motion of LEO satellite, confirm the theoretical results. The future work is to investigate the faults affecting the attitude dynamics e.g., actuator faults and to perform the integrated sensor/actuator FDI via innovation approach.

Requirements of highly precise pointing performance have been imposed on recently developed spacecrafts for a variety of missions. The stringent requirements have called on on-orbit estimation of spacecraft dynamics parameters and calibration of on-board sensors as indispensible practices. Consequently, on-orbit estimation of the mass moment of inertia of spacecraft has been a major issue mostly due to the changes by solar panel deployment and a large portion of fuel consumption (Creamer et al., 1996; Ahmed et al., 1998; Bordany et al., 2000; VanDyke et al., 2004; Myung et al., 2007; Myung & Bang, 2008; Sekhavat et al., 2009). As for measurement sensors, on-board calibration of alignment and bias errors of attitude and rate sensors is one of the main concerns of attitude sensor calibration researches (Pittelkau, 2001 & 2002, Lai et al., 2003). Pittelkau (2002) proposed an attitude estimator based on the Kalman filter (Kalman, 1960), in which spacecraft attitude quaternion, rate sensor misalignment and bias, and star tracker misalignments are taken into consideration as states, whereas the body rate is dealt as a synthesized signal by the estimates. Lai at al. (2003) derived a method for alignment estimation of attitude and rate sensors based on the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) (Julier and Uhlmann, 1997). Ma and Jiang (2005) presented spacecraft attitude estimation and calibration based only magnetometer measurements using an UKF. An interesting point is that we need predesigned 3-axis excitation manoeuvres of spacecraft for both dynamics parameter estimation and sensor calibration. Therefore, this study is motivated to merge above estimation and calibration processes into a single filtering problem. It is noteworthy that poor information of moments of inertia is to be treated as a system uncertainty while the rate sensor model errors are to be incorporated into the measurement process. As a filtering algorithm, this study employs a UKF. Extended Kalman filters (EKFs) have been successfully applied to the nonlinear attitude estimation problem (Crassidis et al., 2007). Hybrid estimation using the EKF has been reported by Myung at al. (2007). However, the EKF estimates using the first order linearization, which may lead to instability of the filter (ValDyke et al., 2004). The UKF approximates the nonlinear model to the second order by spreading points 1 sigma apart from the a priori mean. Performing nonlinear

Fast non-intrusive estimation of liquid-phase interface and boundary heat flux in participating media by the Kalman filtering methods

State of Charge (SOC) estimation plays a crucial role in managing the performance and longevity of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Various estimation techniques, including various Kalman Filters (KF), have been employed for this purpose. The mathematical process and limits of different KF family algorithms are analysed. In this study, an impact of nonlinear KF parameters on SOC estimation accuracy for EV batteries is analyzed. Specifically, the performance of Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF), and Particle Filter (PF) is examined. EKF is most preferred for SOC estimation whereas introducing sigma points in UKF is the basic difference between EKF and UKF. In comparison to EKF and UKF, PF is more flexible since it applies to nonlinear systems with non-Gaussian distributions. Utilising a sequence of noisy measurements, KF is a recursive method that approximates the state of a dynamic system. It requires accurate parameters such as process noise covariance (Q) and measurement noise covariance (R) to work effectively. In this work, the effect of these parameters on state of charge estimation using nonlinear KFs has been analysed under different settings of noise covariance matrices. Tuning these parameters is essential for optimizing the performance of the KF and ensuring accurate and reliable state estimation in real-world applications. To find parameter values that provide the best balance between accuracy, robustness, and computational efficiency, the tuning process involves experimentation, simulation, and validation using real-world data. According to the results observed, the filter parameters such as three diagonal elements of Q are selected as 2e-8, 0.005, 0.003 and R as 2e-6. By evaluating the state estimation accuracy under different driving scenarios, robustness and sensitivity of filtering technique in estimating SOC for EV batteries has been studied. This analysis contributes to the optimization of SOC estimation algorithms, enhancing the reliability and efficiency of EV battery management systems.

The unscented Kalman filter (UKF) has become a popular alternative to the extended Kalman filter (EKF) during the last decade. UKF propagates the so called sigma points by function evaluations using the unscented transformation (UT), and this is at first glance very different from the standard EKF algorithm which is based on a linearized model. The claimed advantages with UKF are that it propagates the first two moments of the posterior distribution and that it does not require gradients of the system model. We point out several less known links between EKF and UKF in terms of two conceptually different implementations of the Kalman filter: the standard one based on the discrete Riccati equation, and one based on a formula on conditional expectations that does not involve an explicit Riccati equation. First, it is shown that the sigma point function evaluations can be used in the classical EKF rather than an explicitly linearized model. Second, a less cited version of the EKF based on a second-order Taylor expansion is shown to be quite closely related to UKF. The different algorithms and results are illustrated with examples inspired by core observation models in target tracking and sensor network applications.

This paper discusses the attitude determination of the CNUSAIL-1 cube-satellite. The primary mission of the CNUSAIL-1 is sail deployment and operation in low Earth orbit, and the secondary mission is to look into influence of the sail deployment on satellite attitude and orbit. The attitude determination strategy is proposed depending on three mission phases, and its performance and applicability are verified through numerical simulations. This study considers the following sensors: Sun sensors and a three-axis magnetometer as attitude reference sensors, and a three-axis MEMS gyroscope as an inertial attitude sensor. Because sensors used for cube satellites have relatively low performances and worse noise characteristics, an Extended Kalman filter (EKF) is applied to attitude determination. Additionally, it has the merits to deal with the Gaussian noises and to predict the attitude even with no measurements from reference attitude sensors, especially in the eclipse of the cube satellite. The performance of the EKF is compared to a deterministic attitude determination technique, QUEST(QUaternion ESTimation).

Traffic state estimation problems must deal with imperfect information. Imperfect information may occur as a result of misalignments between reality and the assumptions or simplifications made when developing the models as well as incomplete or corrupted data. One of the well-known methods of handling imperfect information is the Kalman filter algorithm and its variations, such as the extended Kalman filter and the unscented Kalman filter. While the standard Kalman filter and the extended Kalman filter have been widely applied to the state estimation of linear systems, the unscented Kalman filter has been reported the better choice in the multiclass traffic state estimation. In many applications of Kalman filters to traffic estimation problems, the model and measurement noise covariance matrices are normally estimated. When there is a mismatch between the true and the assumed noise distribution, however, the filter often suffers from performance degradation and even divergence in certain situations. To this end, this paper presents a more efficient and accurate algorithm embedded in the unscented Kalman filter to simultaneously estimate the traffic state and the model noise distribution statistics. The proposed method is facilitated through a simultaneous update of the model noise covariance matrix in the predicted covariance equations of the unscented Kalman filter algorithm. It is found through simulation that the proposed algorithm may improve the model performance over the standard algorithm.

Nanosatellites have become a common choice for certain space missions, principally in universities, due to their low production and launching costs and reduced developing time. However, they present some technological challenges. In a CubeSat, total mass and available electric power are very restricted. Therefore, subsystem components and payload must be designed to have the smallest size, mass, and power consumption possible for the mission. Regarding to Attitude Determination and Control System, one of restrictions in developing CubeSats is the need to use small and low-cost sensors which fulfill satellite building restrictions. Thus, commercial-off-the-shelf components are a common choice in CubeSat development, but these parts normally present high noise levels. Therefore, a multiplicative Kalman filter for attitude determination algorithm based on quaternions is proposed. Data are simulated using typical values for low-cost sensors, namely, 3-axes magnetometer, 3-axes gyroscope, and a sun sensor. Results are compared to the extended Kalman filter proposed for AAUSAT-3 satellite and to the QUEST method, showing a better precision and low execution time compared to other methods.

Combined Kalman and sliding innovation filtering: An adaptive estimation strategy

The stochastic nature of noise signals affects the vehicle’s internal states and the outputs, resulting in the difficulty in estimation. The unknown or time-varying nature of noise signals if not taken into account for estimation, the results will diverge and be highly deteriorated. In this paper, a maximum likelihood principle (MLP) based adaptive robust extended kalman filter for estimating the states of the adopted non-linear vehicle model is proposed. An observability test is done for the purpose of estimation. A covariance matching (CM) based robust adaptive high forgetting factor based fault tolerant technique is also employed on the robust adaptive extended and unscented kalman filters for comparison purpose. The Robustness of the filter is analyzed by varying the parameter of the vehicle through a local sensitivity analysis. The results show that the MLP based approach to the extended kalman filter performs well in three simulations for sinusoidal steering, Double Lance Change, J-Turn, Fishhook, Slalom maneuver in comparison to robust adaptive unscented kalman filter. Friction coefficient of 0.8 (dry road) and 0.4 (wet road) is chosen for the simulation. The sideslip angle RMSE value for MLP based estimation is obtained as 2.62e-05, 4.545e-06 for Sine and DLC maneuver.

This paper presents the efficient Unscented Kalman filter (UKF) based estimation and control of a 3-DOF Omni bundle robot. The angular trajectory tracking becomes more difficult under highly non-linear measurement noise and process noise. A rapidly converging Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) is presented in the paper. The extended Kalman filter (EKF) provides less accurate results in the highly non-linear system and sometime may become unstable because of convergence related issues, whereas in UKF the results in the non-linear system are better than EKF. UKF is more accurate in state and noise estimation. The computed torque technique is taken as a model to apply UKF. After, estimation the noise is removed. The experiment is conducted on Omni bundle with process and measurement noise. The results prove the superiority of presented UKF over conventional UKF and EKF.

PurposeAutonomous orbit determination using geomagnetic measurements is an important backup technique for safe spacecraft navigation with a mere magnetometer. The geomagnetic model is used for the state estimation of orbit elements, but this model is highly nonlinear. Therefore, many efforts have been paid to developing nonlinear filters based on extended Kalman filter (EKF) and unscented Kalman filter (UKF). This paper aims to analyze whether to use UKF or EKF in solving the geomagnetic orbit determination problem and try to give a general conclusion.Design/methodology/approachThis paper revisits the problem and from both the theoretical and engineering results, the authors show that the EKF and UKF show identical estimation performances in the presence of nonlinearity in the geomagnetic model.FindingsWhile EKF consumes less computational time, the UKF is computationally inefficient but owns better accuracy for most nonlinear models. It is also noted that some other navigation techniques are also very similar with the geomagnetic orbit determination.Practical implicationsThe intrinsic reason of such equivalence is because of the orthogonality of the spherical harmonics which has not been discovered in previous studies. Thus, the applicability of the presented findings are not limited only to the major problem in this paper but can be extended to all those schemes with spherical harmonic models.Originality/valueThe results of this paper provide a fact that there is no need to choose UKF as a preferred candidate in orbit determination. As UKF achieves almost the same accuracy as that of EKF, its loss in computational efficiency will be a significant obstacle in real-time implementation.

This paper introduces an attitude and orbit determination system, in particular a sun vector determination algorithm, for HORYU-IV nano-satellite by Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech). Usually, nano-satellites cannot use sensors with high specs because of limited budget and onboard space. In order to achieve the required accuracy of attitude determination, estimation algorithms combining different sources of attitude information should be used. One of the HORYU-IV missions has required sun vector information. In order to detect the sun angle, six sun sensors, which have originally been designed and developed by the authors, and five solar panels have been used. However, due to the narrow field of view and to the saturation property of these sensors, the duration of sun detection is quite limited. At a non-detection period, a gyro sensor is used in order to propagate the attitude. However, the sensor has the bias error in its measured value. Hence, the Extended Kalman Filter has been used in order to estimate the sun vector and the bias error of gyro sensors. A simulation result shows that the algorithm can estimate the sun vector in 1deg accuracy.

The focus of this work is the extension of nonlinear state estimation methods to gas-lifted systems. The extended Kalman filter (EKF), unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and particle filter (PF) were used to estimate the nonlinear states. Brief descriptions of the filters were first presented starting from the linear Kalman filter. Hypothesis tests on the expectation of the residuals were performed to show how close to optimal the estimation methods are and it showed the UKF estimates to be slightly better than EKF while PF performs the worst. The PF has poor accuracy using residual visualisation, hypothesis test and the root mean squared error (RMSE) values of the residuals. The gas-lifted system exhibits casing heading instability where the states show oscillatory behaviour depending on the value of the input but the results here do not change in a known way for each filter as the input is changed from the non-oscillatory region to the oscillatory region. Therefore, for this noise distribution and model assumption, either the EKF or UKF can be used for nonlinear state estimation with UKF better preferred if computational cost is not considered when control solutions are used in gas-lifted system.