Satellite Angular Velocity Estimation Based on Star Images and Optical Flow Techniques

作     者：Fasano, Giancarmine Rufino, Giancarlo Accardo, Domenico Grassi, Michele 

作者机构：Univ Naples Federico II Dept Ind Engn DII I-80125 Naples Italy 

出 版 物：《SENSORS》 (传感器)

年 卷 期：2013年第13卷第10期

页      面：12771-12793页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 071010[理学-生物化学与分子生物学] 0808[工学-电气工程] 07[理学] 0804[工学-仪器科学与技术] 0703[理学-化学] 

主　　题：spacecraft angular velocity estimation star field images optical flow performance analysis hardware-in-the-loop simulation 

摘      要：An optical flow-based technique is proposed to estimate spacecraft angular velocity based on sequences of star-field images. It does not require star identification and can be thus used to also deliver angular rate information when attitude determination is not possible, as during platform de tumbling or slewing. Region-based optical flow calculation is carried out on successive star images preprocessed to remove background. Sensor calibration parameters, Poisson equation, and a least-squares method are then used to estimate the angular velocity vector components in the sensor rotating frame. A theoretical error budget is developed to estimate the expected angular rate accuracy as a function of camera parameters and star distribution in the field of view. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is tested by using star field scenes generated by a hardware-in-the-loop testing facility and acquired by a commercial-off-the shelf camera sensor. Simulated cases comprise rotations at different rates. Experimental results are presented which are consistent with theoretical estimates. In particular, very accurate angular velocity estimates are generated at lower slew rates, while in all cases the achievable accuracy in the estimation of the angular velocity component along boresight is about one order of magnitude worse than the other two components.