• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.24-36
• /
• 2011

A new approach for spacecraft absolute attitude estimation based on the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) is extended to relative attitude estimation and navigation. This approach for nonlinear systems has faster convergence than the approach based on the standard extended Kalman filter (EKF) even with inaccurate initial conditions in attitude estimation and navigation problems. The filter formulation employs measurements obtained from a vision sensor to provide multiple line(-) of(-) sight vectors from the spacecraft to another spacecraft. The line-of-sight measurements are coupled with gyro measurements and dynamic models in an UKF to determine relative attitude, position and gyro biases. A vector of generalized Rodrigues parameters is used to represent the local error-quaternion between two spacecraft. A multiplicative quaternion-error approach is derived from the local error-quaternion, which guarantees the maintenance of quaternion unit constraint in the filter. The scenario for bounded relative motion is selected to verify this extended application of the UKF. Simulation results show that the UKF is more robust than the EKF under realistic initial attitude and navigation error conditions.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.216-224
• /
• 2014

This paper compares methods for attitude estimation of a UUV(Unmanned Underwater Vehicle). Attitude estimation plays a key role in underwater navigation using DVL(Doppler Velocity Log). The paper proposes attitude estimation methods using EKF(Extended Kalman Filter), UKF(Unscented Kalman Filter), and CF(Complementary Filter). It derives methods using the measurements from MEMS-AHRS(Microelectromechanical Systems-Attitude Heading Reference System) and DVL. The methods are used for navigation in a test pool and their navigation performance is compared. The results suggest that even if there is no measurement relative to some absolute landmarks, DVL-only navigation can be useful for navigation in a limited time and range.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 1992.10a
• /
• pp.147-152
• /
• 1992

This paper describes a new approach that can extract the relative shift vectors between two aerial image sequences for implementing the visual navigation system. This method minimizes the noise included in the aircraft attitude information that represents the changes of the aircraft attitude using the statistical method and Kalman Filtering method. This result can be used to find the relative shift vectors which are independent of the attitude changes indicating the true trajectories of aircraft. We applied this method to the image about which we had already known the information of aircraft attitude, and that result showed that the errors were minimized successfully.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.581-589
• /
• 2015

This paper describes a monocular vision-based formation flight technology using two fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles. To measuring relative position and attitude of a leader aircraft, a monocular camera installed in the front of the follower aircraft captures an image of the leader, and position and attitude are measured from the image using the KLT feature point tracker and POSIT algorithm. To verify the feasibility of this vision processing algorithm, a field test was performed using two light sports aircraft, and our experimental results show that the proposed monocular vision-based measurement algorithm is feasible. Performance verification for the proposed formation flight technology was carried out using the X-Plane flight simulator. The formation flight simulation system consists of two PCs playing the role of leader and follower. When the leader flies by the command of user, the follower aircraft tracks the leader by designed guidance and a PI control law, and all the information about leader was measured using monocular vision. This simulation shows that guidance using relative attitude information tracks the leader aircraft better than not using attitude information. This simulation shows absolute average errors for the relative position as follows: X-axis: 2.88 m, Y-axis: 2.09 m, and Z-axis: 0.44 m.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.13 no.10
• /
• pp.962-969
• /
• 2007

In this paper, an approach is developed for relative state estimation of satellite formation flying. To estimate relative states of two satellites, the Extended Kalman Filter Algorithm is adopted with the relative distance and speed between two satellites and attitude of satellite for measurements. Numerical simulations are conducted under two circumstances. The first one presents both chief and deputy satellites are orbiting a circular reference orbit around a perfectly spherical Earth model with no disturbing acceleration, in which the elementary relative orbital motion is taken into account. In reality, however, the Earth is not a perfect sphere, but rather an oblate spheroid, and both satellites are under the effect of $J_2$ geopotential disturbance, which causes the relative distance between two satellites to be on the gradual increase. A near-Earth orbit decays as a result of atmospheric drag. In order to remove the modeling error, the second scenario incorporates the effect of the $J_2$ geopotential force, and the atmospheric drag, and the eccentricity in satellite orbit are also considered.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.219-229
• /
• 2018

This paper proposes Kalman Filter-based relative navigation algorithms for proximity tasks such as rendezvous/docking/cluster-operation of spacecraft using PSD Sensors and Infrared Beacon Modules. Numerical simulations are performed for comparative analysis of the performance of each relative-navigation technique. Based on the operation principle and optical modeling of the PSD Sensor and the Infrared Beacon Module used in the relative navigation algorithm, a measurement model for the Kalman filter is constructed. The Extended Kalman Filter(EKF) and the Unscented Kalman Filter(UKF) are used as probabilistic relative navigation based on measurement fusion to utilize kinematics and dynamics information on translational and rotation motions of satellites. Relative position and relative attitude estimation performance of two filters is compared. Especially, through the simulation of various scenarios, performance changes are also investigated depending on the number of PSD Sensors and IR Beacons in target and chaser satellites.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.43-56
• /
• 2011

An integrated system composed of guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system for autonomous proximity operations and the docking of two spacecraft was developed. The position maneuvers were determined through the integration of the state-dependent Riccati equation formulated from nonlinear relative motion dynamics and relative navigation using rendezvous laser vision (Lidar) and a vision sensor system. In the vision sensor system, a switch between sensors was made along the approach phase in order to provide continuously effective navigation. As an extension of the rendezvous laser vision system, an automated terminal guidance scheme based on the Clohessy-Wiltshire state transition matrix was used to formulate a "V-bar hopping approach" reference trajectory. A proximity operations strategy was then adapted from the approach strategy used with the automated transfer vehicle. The attitude maneuvers, determined from a linear quadratic Gaussian-type control including quaternion based attitude estimation using star trackers or a vision sensor system, provided precise attitude control and robustness under uncertainties in the moments of inertia and external disturbances. These functions were then integrated into an autonomous GNC system that can perform proximity operations and meet all conditions for successful docking. A six-degree of freedom simulation was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the integrated system.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.387-393
• /
• 2015

This study presents a precise relative navigation algorithm using both laser and Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements in real time. The measurement model of the navigation algorithm between two spacecraft is comprised of relative distances measured by laser instruments and single differences of GPS pseudo-range measurements in spherical coordinates. Based on the measurement model, the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is applied to smooth the pseudo-range measurements and to obtain the relative navigation solution. While the navigation algorithm using only laser measurements might become inaccurate because of the limited accuracy of spacecraft attitude estimation when the distance between spacecraft is rather large, the proposed approach is able to provide an accurate solution even in such cases by employing the smoothed GPS pseudo-range measurements. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the errors of the proposed algorithm are reduced by more than about 12% compared to those of an algorithm using only laser measurements, as the accuracy of angular measurements is greater than $0.001^{\circ}$ at relative distances greater than 30 km.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.1253-1267
• /
• 2005

Misalignment can be an important problem in the integration of GPS/INS. Observability analysis of the alignment errors in the integration of low-grade inertial sensors and multi-antenna GPS is presented in this paper. A control-theoretic approach is adopted to study the observability of time-varying error dynamics models. The relationship between vehicle motions and the observability of the errors in the lever arm and relative attitude between GPS antenna array and IMU is given. It is shown that alignment errors can be made observable through maneuvering. The change of acceleration makes the components of the relative attitude error that are orthogonal to the direction of the acceleration change observable. The change of angular velocity makes the components of the lever arm error that are orthogonal to the direction of the angular velocity observable. The motion of constant angular velocity has no influence on the estimation of the lever arm.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.214-226
• /
• 2023

A transfer alignment is used to initialize, align, and calibrate a SINS(Slave INS) using a MINS(Master INS) in motion. This paper presents an airborne transfer alignment with velocity and azimuth matching to estimate inertial sensor biases under the wing flexure influence. This study also considers the lever arm, time delay and relative orientation between MINS and SINS. The traditional transfer alignment only uses velocity matching. In contrast, this paper utilizes the azimuth matching to prevent divergence of the azimuth when the aircraft is stationary or quasi-stationary since the azimuth is less affected by the wing flexibility. The performance of the proposed Kalman filter is analyzed using two factors; one is the estimation performance of gyroscope and accelerometer bias and the other is comparing aircraft dynamics and attitude covariance. The performance of the proposed filter is verified using a long term flight test. The test results show that the proposed scheme can be effectively applied to various platforms that require airborne transfer alignment.