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Real-Time Attitude Independent Calibration of Spinning Spacecraft Magnetometers Using Quasi-Measurements

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Abstract

Magnetometers are essential sensors for attitude estimation in small spacecraft due to their robust, inexpensive, and lightweight characteristics. However, the raw measurements contain sensor errors. These errors degrade the attitude estimation accuracy. This study proposes a complete real-time attitude-independent magnetometer calibration algorithm for spinning spacecraft. The recursive algorithm aims to estimate the full error state, bias, scale factor, and non-orthogonality corrections in real-time and without any attitude information. The well-known attitude-independent observation based on the magnitude of the sensed magnetic field is aided by newly introduced quasi-measurements to build the algorithm. The algorithm is tested with both simulations and actual spacecraft data. Four quasi-measurements, which are derived using dynamic characteristics of the spacecraft, considerably improve the convergence characteristics of the filter and the estimation accuracy.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported in part by the ERG project of ISAS/JAXA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aerospace Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

    Mustafa Efe Cetin & Halil Ersin Soken

  2. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

    Shin-ichiro Sakai

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  1. Mustafa Efe Cetin
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  2. Halil Ersin Soken
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  3. Shin-ichiro Sakai
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Correspondence to Mustafa Efe Cetin or Halil Ersin Soken.

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Cetin, M.E., Soken, H.E. & Sakai, Si. Real-Time Attitude Independent Calibration of Spinning Spacecraft Magnetometers Using Quasi-Measurements. J Astronaut Sci 69, 1726–1743 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-022-00349-5

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