A Recursive Approach for Magnetic Field Estimation in Spacecraft Magnetic Attitude Control

Abstract

This paper is concerned with magnetic attitude control of spacecraft. The operation of the magnetic actuators is usually on a duty cycle; during the off times in this duty cycle the magnetometers are used to measure the magnetic field around the spacecraft. This alternate operation of magnetic actuators and sensors avoids the noise effect on the magnetometers coming from the magnetic actuators. This alternate operation results in longer maneuver times. This paper presents an estimation approach for the magnetic field, as well as the spacecraft attitude, that increases the duty cycle of the magnetic rods while reducing the rate of collecting the magnetometer data. A modified Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter (MEKF) is used in the proposed approach. A relatively simple and fast dynamic model is developed for use in the MEKF. Monte Carlo simulations presented in this paper show that the proposed approach results in less maneuver time, and less power consumption by the magnetic rods when compared to a standard magnetic control approach. The magnetic field estimation process is verified using data collected from the CASSIOPE spacecraft using its telemetry system and the results are presented.

Comparative Cost Functions Analysis in the Construction of a Reference Angular Motion Implemented by Magnetorquers

“…The MACS has low power consumption and is easy to manufacture. It is well suited to reduce the cost of missions and makes SC hardware simpler and more reliable [8,9]. This is necessary due to the growth in the number of space-related scientific and applied problems in various industries, as well as educational and new technology demonstration projects.…”

Magnetic Disturbance Rejection in Spacecraft using Electromagnetic Propulsion

“…A Multiplicative EKF (MEKF), is proposed in [51]. The MEKF works by computing a pseudo-measurement of the geomagnetic field by using the filter's existing estimate of the angular velocity.…”

“…In [54], [47], [55], and [51] a PD based attitude controller was used. They include a small residual dipole in their disturbance torque model but do not explicitly seek to compensate it.…”